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PRESENTED BY 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
AND THE WAR 



BY 

PING LING 



A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., 
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy, and accepted on the recom- 
mendation of G. Stanley Hall 



in 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
AND THE WAR 



BY 

PING LING 




A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., 
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy, and accepted on the recom- 
mendation of G. Stanley Hall 



1919 

All Rights Reserved 






University 



PREFACE 

The following pages represent an endeavor to study the 
effects of the war upon schools in other countries and especi- 
ally in the United States. The first four chapters deal with 
some specific problems of the public schools in connection with 
the war and were written when the great world conflict was 
still going on. They show the revolutionary changes which 
the public schools have made in adjusting themselves to the 
needs of the war, and suggest the unmistakable tendencies 
of our educational reconstruction which is yet to come. The 
last two chapters were written when the great war had just 
come to an end. In them the author has tried to show, in 
the light of the experience of many school systems in this 
country, how American public education can be reorganized 
in order to meet the needs of the coming new world order. 
It is the author's hope that they may be of some value to 
the general discussion of educational reform. 

In the course of investigation the author has sent out ques- 
tionnaires to hundreds of state educational officers, city and 
county school superintendents, and teachers of the elementary 
and high schools throughout the country for authentic informa- 
tion. It would be impossible for him to record his indebted- 
ness to all those who have made contributions to this study. 
But the author wishes to express especially his earnest appre- 
ciation of the valuable aid so frequently, willingly, and gladly 
offered by his leader and guide, President G. Stanley Hall, 
in the course of this study. Without his suggestion this work 
would not have been undertaken, and without his constant 
encouragement this work would not have been completed. 
The author wishes also to express his deep gratitude to his 
beloved teacher, Prof. William H. Burnham, for his very 
helpful suggestions and kind criticism, and to Miss Clara E. 
Schieber for her invaluable assistance in carefully reading 
over the manuscript and the proof and in making suggestions 
with regard to literary defects. 

P. LING. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter 1. Moral Training of School Children in War 

Time 5 

Chapter 2. School Children and Food Production 26 

Chapter 3. Military Training in the Public Schools. ... 46 
Chapter 4. The War and the Teaching of School Sub- 
jects 69 

Chapter 5. Reorgnaization of the Public School System 

after the War 89 

Chapter 6. Reorganization of Public School Programs 

after the War 127 

Summary 151 

Bibliography 154 



CHAPTER I 

MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN 
WAR TIME 

John Ruskin said in his Crown of Wild Olive: 

" When I tell you that war is the foundation of all the arts, 
I mean also that it is the foundation of all the high virtues 
and faculties of men. It is very strange to me to discover 
this, and very dreadful — but I saw it to be quite an undeniable 
fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues of civil 
life flourished together, I found to be wholly untenable. Peace 
and vices of civil life, only, flourish together. . . . 

" I found, in brief, that all great nations learned their truth 
of word and strength of thought in war, that they were nour- 
ished in war and wasted by peace, taught by war and deceived 
by peace, trained by war and betrayed by peace, — in a word, 
that they were born in war and expired in peace." 

In these times of unprecedented world struggle when the 
traditions of centuries are crumbling and all the ideals of 
civilization are being tested in the infernal fire of war, these 
words of a philosopher and a great lover of art are most chal- 
lenging. They are challenging, because they compel us to 
turn our thought from the present horrors of war to the 
possible future social order which may rise from the indescrib- 
able chaos of to-day. Looking from the dark side of the war, 
the world is in a period of great conflagration. Every human 
effort is being directed to the scientific inventions of fright- 
fulness and destruction. Every advance in science and engin- 
eering makes war more hideous and every advance in organ- 
ization and efficiency makes it more terrible. The shrieking 
of the drowning women and children on the high seas and the 
shelling of quiet homes seventy or eighty miles away are 
only a few of the examples of the terrors of modern war- 
fare. For the time being at least it seems that the whole 
world is going to come to an end. But looking from the 
bright side of the war we find that war has served as a great 
agency for the re-evaluation of life, for the advancement 
of civil virtues and for the enhancement of high moral 
ideals, despite all its destructive effects. Never before have 
we seen so many evidences of love and sympathy, of devo- 
tion to duty and consecration for service. Never before have 
we heard so much of the deeds of heroism and self-denial, 



6 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

of bravery and discipline. Never before have we found so 
many examples of loyalty, co-operation, and the willingness 
of paying the last measure of devotion for a great cause. We 
have every reason to hope that this war will prove to be a 
great atonement for the world, that the heroic blood shall not 
have been shed in vain, and that a new social order shall be 
established which will for ever hold the brute in man in 
leash. It is upon this inspiration that I propose to discuss 
in this chapter the ethical values of war from an educational 
point of view, and particularly those object lessons which 
are exerting a profound influence on the character and inner 
life of children upon whose education and training the future 
of the world depends. 

The teachers of to J day are largely responsible for the 
world of to-morrow. They are training a generation not 
only for the wise maintenance of the coming peace but also 
for the just and faithful applications of the moral lessons 
we have learned from this war. Nations as well as indi- 
viduals will soon forget the truth and the ethics which have 
been brought so vividly and lucidly to light by the immediate 
conflagration, and let the lower passions of vain glory, petty 
jealousies, and selfishness again loom large in our national 
and individual life. But, lest we forget, we must never go 
back to the old order of things ; we must never let the war 
lessons so dearly and painfully learned be relegated to the 
place of oblivion, and, the most important of all, we must 
teach children these lessons so that the truths and the 
ethical virtues brought out by war may be incorporated in 
their moral fibre and may thus become a moulding force for 
the future. This is a great task, a task which requires vision 
and pedagogical insight to perform. Woe be unto the peda- 
gogues if they fail to comprehend their duty and responsibility 
to discharge it with faith, fidelity, sagacity and professional 
ability ! 

In discussing the problem of moral training of school chil- 
dren in war time the writer is fully aware of its immensity 
and complexity. In times of peace the ethical training in the 
public schools always proved to be a difficult thing, because 
there was a lack of paramount motives to hold the interest 
of the children. But in times of war the condition is dif- 
ferent. We can construct our entire method of moral train- 
ing around the main theme of patriotism. In patriotism 
the children will find motives in doing things and can learn 
many fundamental virtues through their actual participation 
in the war activities of the school. For this reason I shall 
present this subject in the following two sections; namely, 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 7 

(1) the teaching of patriotism and (2) the training of 
patriotism. 

I. Teaching of Patriotism 

The first task the teachers must perform is the teaching 
of patriotism. It is not a new task imposed by the war, but 
the war has made it more important and necessary. To fail 
in stimulating the patriotic feelings in children would mean 
a failure in one of the main functions of the school. But how 
to teach patriotism in connection with the war is the question 
which we have constantly asked and to which we yet have no 
answer. To my mind, the fundamental solution of this prob- 
lem presupposes a clear conception of what true patriotism 
is. To conceive it in its highest and best sense, the teaching 
of it will be beneficial both to the individual and to the nation. 
To conceive it in a wrong perspective, the teaching of it, no 
matter how patriotic the teacher may feel, would be poisoning 
the minds of the children and doing a nation more harm 
than good. 

Now what is patriotism? To say that patriotism is love 
of country is begging the question, for the phrase " love of 
country " needs further explanation. Is the hatred for the 
enemy to be identified as true patriotism ? Is the exaltation of 
the nation's greatness to be interpreted as real love of country? 
With all emphasis we must say " no." To conceive patriotism 
in such terms would be nothing short of a horrible perversion. 
In an autocracy the conception of patriotism can not be any- 
thing other than the exaggerated national egoism and the con- 
tempt of other peoples, because the autocratic rulers must 
deliberately educate their people into such a frame of mind 
in order to further their imperialistic design. But in a 
democracy, we must conceive patriotism as an unqualified 
devotion to the ideals and institutions of the country which 
guarantees liberty and justice to all. It is upon this higher 
and nobler conception that we must formulate our principle of 
instruction. 

Avoid the teaching of hatred — Hatred for the enemy has 
no place in the teaching of the war. We have heard so much 
about the teachings in the public schools of Germany con- 
cerning her enemies, but we should not follow her example. 
Indeed, we should constantly guard ourselves against the 
temptation of introducing into the public schools any teachings 
which are not in harmony with the democratic ideals for the 
defence of which we are making the supreme sacrifice. 
America entered the war with no selfish purposes, so we 
must carry on the war without passion. The righteous 
indignation against the Germans which we feel at present must 



8 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

never be degraded into simple racial hatred. We should not 
let our feelings blind us to our pedagogicar duty which is to 
educate, to train, and to prepare the children of to-day for 
the world-citizenship of to-morrow. 

Furthermore, to teach hatred would be to increase the 
demoralizing effects of war upon the inner life of children. 
Evidences are not lacking that numerous psychoses have 
developed among the children who, on account of their resi- 
dence near the fighting front, have been receiving the frightful 
impressions of death and destruction. Their emotional life 
has been profoundly affected by the great shell-shock of 
the war. They are developing cruel instincts and harmful 
habits which are definitely detrimental to the normal growth 
of their moral character. In view of this fact the true war- 
pedagogy is to find out the ways and means to counteract the 
evil effects of war and to obviate the dangers which may rise 
from the daily events of the struggle. On discussing the 
new educational duties of our time, Prof. F. W. Foerster 
has made the following statement : " A girl in her teens comes 
from a street-corner where the German naval victory off Chile 
is posted and says jubilantly to her friends, 'Have you read? 
Magnificent ! Fifteen hundred Englishmen drowned off Chile !' 
I do not consider such things harmless. For the stay-at-homes 
war can become a school of heartlessness and thoughtlessness 
if a very earnest counter-effect is not given at the right time. 
As a teacher, I would, on such an occasion — or even before- 
hand as a precautionary measure — say with great emphasis, 
' Listen, whoever is not yet so fortunate in these war times 
as to be permitted to bind up wounds and nurse the wounded, 
shall at least think of the wounds which war inflicts and of 
the broken hearts and happiness of the thousands who thereby 
lose what is dearest to them — therefore, even in our joy over 
victory, there should always sound a minor note. Do you 
know what " Minor" means and how it can be expressed ? 
What a loss for us if the others should lose their ships, but 
you should lose your hearts !' m Such an admirable state- 
ment from a far-sighted German educator should serve as a 
grave note of warning to the teachers in this country who 
are encouraging their pupils to maintain a malicious, scornful 
and brutal attitude towards the enemy. To be sure, the 
grim realities of war have not come to the daily experience 
of the average American children. But the time is coming, 
if the war lasts, when the American heroes will lay down their 

1 Prof. F. W. Foerster. New Educational Duties of Our Time; 
translated by Helen M. Downey. Pedagogical Seminary, March, 1918, 
p. 80. 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 9 

lives on the fields of honor by hundreds or thousands a day, 
then their dear little ones at home will not fail to have some 
emotional experience which are appalling to their growing 
childhood. Is it pedagogically or psychologically sound that 
we should teach them to indulge in hatred and malice, which 
are not beneficial to the nation and decidedly harmful to 
themselves ? 

Avoid the Teaching of National Egoism — The undue ex- 
aggeration of the nation's greatness should be carefully avoided 
in the teaching of patriotism. The fundamental reason for 
which Germany started this world war is just because of her 
belief that she is the only nation in the world that is fit for 
existence. For many decades the German government has 
been using the public schools as the chief instrument for 
educating the people to belive in the doctrine of " Deutschland 
ueber Alles." In no country has the government more direct 
control over education than in Germany. In no other country 
has education been made so subservient to political aim which 
is to put the world under German domination. Everywhere 
in Germany the children have been taught to think that the 
Germans are the " Chosen People of God" to rule the rest 
of the world. Had the Germans been trained to respect the 
rights of others, this great catastrophe would have, been 
impossible. 

To teach children that their country is the best in the 
world in everything is not teaching the truth. No nation -is 
all good nor all bad. Every country has its shortcomings as 
well as its achievements. The great world civilization is just 
like a beautiful mosaic picture, each nation has made its 
contributions. Every nation has its own ideals, traditions, 
customs, morals and virtues, which may by utterly different 
from those of others ; yet it is upon these very differences 
that the advance and the enrichment of the world civiliza- 
tion depends. Teachers should lead children to recognize these 
differences between nations and help them to realize the 
deep underlying unity that binds all nations together. The 
great fundamental principle of a democracy is to allow the 
individuals to differ ; so the great democratic world must 
allow the individual nations to differ. America is devoting 
everything, man, money and resources, to making the world 
safe for democracy ; so the school teachers should assume 
the responsibility of developing a sort of corporate con- 
science in the younger generation in order to maintain the 
great world democracy which is bound to come. Their ac- 
complishment may not be so spectacular as that of the heroes 
in the field, but it is in no sense less important. 



10 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

Furthermore, true patriotism does not consist of a romantic 
view of country. It must be sane and modest. It is of the 
same nature as the love which we have for our parents, as 
one writer puts it. We know that our parents are not perfect 
human beings ; so one must recognize the fact that his nation 
is not a perfect nation in everything. Nevertheless, one can 
love his country just the same, even though it is not perfect. 
As we must and we will defend our parents from violence, 
so one must defend his country from any foreign encroach- 
ment. Why should one insist upon the idea that his country 
must be the finest in the world in order to fight for its right 
and honor? 

The sentiment which expresses itself in the phrase, " My 
country, right or wrong," is not the kind of patriotism we 
should teach in the public school. It has the same meaning 
as " Deutschland ueber Alles." It is nothing but a projection 
of the selfish ego on a larger horizon. To carry the analogy a 
few steps further, we can say, " My country, right or wrong ; 
my state, right or wrong ; my county, right or wrong ; my 
city, right or wrong; my family, right or wrong; and finally, 
myself, right or wrong." It literally means that selflove 
recognizes no law, and patriotism knows no principle of jus- 
tice nor international obligations whatsoever. How absurd ! 

Teaching the National Ideals — The great democratic ideals, 
the ideals upon which the American Republic was founded, 
should never be lost sight of in any scheme of teaching 
patriotism. Since the declaration of war practically every 
city school system heard from has instituted some means 
in arousing the patriotic feelings in children, such as flag 
cult, pageantry, national songs, etc. Take, for example, the 
flag. In some cities, the pledge to the flag has been insisted 
upon for all children. With elaborate ceremony the chil- 
dren are made to take the following oath : " I pledge allegiance 
to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands : One 
nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." In 
other cities, children are made to salute the flag and repeat 
the pledge every morning when the school is in session with 
the deep solemnity appropriate to the occasion. The meas- 
ures are excellent in themselves, but the meaning of the flag 
and the national ideals, traditions, and inspirations that the flag 
symbolizes, should never be over shadowed by the excitement 
of showy exhibition. Patriotism is an abstract term. The 
spiritual significance of national principles can not be intelli- 
gently appreciated without maturity of mind and openness 
of heart. Children of school age can not be expected to grasp 
the abstract principles without any tangible and visible form. 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 11 

Consequently flag salute is one of the means of teaching 
children what the country stands for. But it must always 
be a means, not an end. When it is conducted as an end in 
itself, then the flag becomes an object of fetish worship. 
This is quite obvious to every thinking person, yet this is the 
very thing which we are likely to overlook. 

Again, in connection with the teaching of national ideals 
the duty of citizenship should also be emphasized. The ideals 
which the American flag symbolizes are most comprehensively 
stated in the first clause of the Declaration of Independence : 
" We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness." But every one of these rights 
has its correlative duty. The right to life imposes the duty 
to protect the life of others; the right to liberty requires 
obedience to law ; and the right to happiness presupposes the 
obligation that the same right of others be not unlawfully 
interfered with. In other words, the right to citizenship 
enjoins the duty of serving the nation whenever the service is 
needed at whatever cost. In America the individualistic ten- 
dency has always been in ascendency. The rights of the indi- 
viduals have been over-emphasized while the duty to the nation 
often suffers neglect. Sometimes even the laws of the country 
have been flagrantly violated by the unbridled passion of the 
mob. Take for example, the mob laws, the lynching of the 
negroes, etc. America is fighting for the cause of democracy, 
so it is the duty of the American people to see to it that 
democracy is safe within their own national boundary. In 
this time of national crisis we need a new spirit of patriotism. 
Strike when the iron is hot. Now is the high time for the 
teachers to bring home clearly and forcibly to children the 
duties of citizenship.' They would perform a task of a very 
high order, if on the occasions of flag days, patriotic pagean- 
tries, etc., they would tell the children what they ought to do 
for the country instead of pronouncing eloquent eulogies on 
the nation's glory and success. In a recent publication the 
State Council of Defense of Connecticut has stated this prin- 
ciple very admirably in the following words : " This war is 
bound to have a deep influence on American life and thought, 
and we should be watchful to direct this into right channels. 
The country is shot through and through with the one-sided 
philosophy that the State is an institution to be leaned upon 
and filched from, but not to be served. The schools should 
train the children in the fundamental contact between citizen 
and State. The idea of mutuality should be developed. The 



12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

State owes duties to the citizen, but the citizen owes reciprocal 
duties to the State." 

Teaching the Ethical Values of Bravery and Self-sacrifice — 
Closely connected with the teaching of patriotism and war is 
the teaching of the ethical values of bravery and self-sacrifice. 
In this connection Prof. F. W. Foerster has quoted the fol- 
lowing letter from the front describing the scene in a hospital : 

"During the operation, which took place in a church arranged 
as a hospital, a bomb crashed through the church window 
above. Some of those assisting at the operation instinctively 
jumped aside, others disappeared under the operating table 
and others tried to save themselves by hasty flight into the 
sacristy or behind the altar. The shell-splinters and stones 
clattered through the church windows, and pieces of stained 
glass and of roof ornamentation rattled down on the reddish 
floor stones. 'Here we are operating!' said the surgeon un- 
concernedly; an energetic, 'Each one remains at his post' 
from the assistant quickly caused the people under the table 
and behind the altar to hurry forth. Calmly, as if we were 
in the operating room of a hospital, we worked ahead, looked 
for ducts, nerves, applied ligatures and sewed muscle after 
muscle to a useful stump. After the ligature the patient 
opened his eyes again soon, and murmured softly and con- 
tentedly, 'Ah, how well have I slept!' He would scarcely 
believe that he had already been operated on and that, in the 
meanwhile, almost the whole church had been destroyed. 
Astonished and amazed he looked at the ruined church win- 
dows. We laid him carefully on soft straw and while the 
hostile missiles thundering outside completed their work of 
destruction, He was already sleeping along toward recovery 
with deep, calm breathing." (42). 

Another story told about the heroism of a British officer 
in the Western front is equally inspiring. During one fierce 
engagement a British officer saw a German officer impaled 
on the barbed wire, writhing in anguish. The fire was dread- 
ful, yet he still hung there unscathed. At length the British 
officer could no longer stand the pathetic sight. He said 
quietly, "I can't bear to look at that poor chap any longer." 
So he went out under the hail of shell, released him, took him 
on his shoulders and carried him to the German trench. The 
firing ceased. Both sides watched the act with wonder. Then 
the commander in the German trench came forward, took 
from his own bosom the Iron Cross and pinned it on the 
breast of the British officer. 

These are two of the many hundreds or thousands of stories 
of heroism and sacrifice which teachers can utilize for moral 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 13 

instruction. The heroic defiance of death in the fulfillment 
of duty and in the rescue of even an enemy who was in dis- 
tress, as illustrated by these stories, will sink deep into the 
minds of children in their most impressionable years. The 
sterile, cut and dried verbal method of moral instruction can 
be much vitalized, if the teacher can only have the vision, 
ability, and interest to do so. , 

II. Training in Patriotism 

So much for the teachings of patriotism. Valuable as 
they are, the war activities in the schools will have a greater 
effect upon the thoughts, feelings and emotions of children 
than mere verbal instruction. They give children a sense of 
reality in actually doing something for their country. They 
develop in children a feeling of pride and responsibility by 
the visible and tangible services rendered to a much larger 
object than the selfish ego. They tend to react upon the life 
of children in a quickened consciousness of personal and 
national ties, and a keener sense of common sacrifice and 
common duty. In other words, they furnish a kind of moral 
training based on the conception of patriotism which is 
dynamic, real and concrete. 

In Germany, as far as information is available, we find 
many war activities of the school chillren deserving our un- 
qualified commendation. One of the most interesting of all 
these activities which have been described is the collection 
of metals and cast away materials. In some places the school 
boys turned out in great numbers with bags, toy or larger 
wagons, botanical cases, and all conceivable receptacles in a 
house-to-house visitation on the street; sometimes the interest 
of the children was so intense and the enthusiasm so great that 
they would cry if refused. The parents had always been asked 
to consent in advance and they never failed to do so. Very 
often the men and women visited have allowed them to search 
cellars, attics, sheds, outbuildings and even dump heaps, for 
every kind of tin can, iron hoops, scraps of copper or brass, 
and many other cast-out things of every description. Occa- 
sionally they formed themselves into teams and had one or 
two teachers with them on the expedition. Those visited were 
always glad to be relieved of refuse and often entered into the 
spirit of the children with great enthusiasm, going through 
the house from attic to cellar and giving up discarded things 
of considerable value. The boys entered into this work with 
intense fervor of competition, vieing with each other in the 
amount of things thus collected. When these were shown, the 
other children were usually stimulated to bring from their 



14 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

homes, or wherever obtainable, tiny things like buttons, pen- 
holders, etc., to enrich the school collection. What is the 
most important of all is that the children were always told 
with great detail by the teachers with regard to the uses of 
the things thus gathered and the stages of their transforma- 
tion into war materials. 

In England, although activities of the kind just mentioned 
have not been reported, yet the record of collections in money 
and of articles made in the schools for the troops at the 
front and in the training camps, for the hospitals, and for the 
prisoners of war in enemy countries is equally remarkable. 
From the report of the British Board of Education of 1915, 
we find a small village school in the north with 30 children 
on the roll collected in a short period 2,542 eggs for the 
wounded and made socks, mufflers, etc., in addition. In an- 
other east coast area the schools specialized for - particular 
purposes, one sending parcels to prisoners of war, another 
knitting sailors' gloves, another providing clothing for refugees 
in France and Holland, another collecting and sending candles 
to a battalion in the trenches. A school in the same area 
showed its war fund, with a total of over 85 pounds raised 
by concerts, bazaars, and collections, and expended for a great 
variety of purposes. The enumeration of similar instances 
can be continued indefinitely. 

Besides this collection of money and articles, work of a 
directly useful as well as of an educative kind has also been 
organized by the schools in connection with the manufacture 
of munitions or of hospital equipment. In a single secondary 
school in Breadford, more than 1,200 articles, including splints, 
crutches, bed-boards and rests, screens, rollers, trays, etc., 
have been made in the manual department during the school 
year of 1915. In another school in Midland county, hundreds 
of sand bags have been made by the children as well as a great 
variety of hospital requisites. 

Works of this kind can be found everywhere. They are 
largely spontaneous in character, springing from the initiative 
of individual teachers or pupils themselves. They elude classi- 
fication and cut across the formal divisions of curriculum. 
Yet who will doubt their educational value in the light of 
modern pedagogy? 

In France, we find the same activities as we find in Eng- 
land. For instance, liberal subcriptions from pupils to the 
national funds, participation in the collection of gold, the dis- 
patch of packets to soldiers, the donation of books to the chil- 
dren of reconquered Alsace, the help given to the orphans 
whom a school or class has taken under its charge, — these 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 15 

and many other activities represent the war work in the 
French public schools of to-day. As The London Times says 
in this connection. " The most detailed enumeration would 
hardly exhaust the activities of education in the common 
cause." 

In Australia, we have the same story. Soon after the out- 
break of the war, the " Young Worker's Patriotic Guild " 
was organized. The members of the guild pledged to do per- 
sonal labor for the War Relief Fund. Any one who earns 
one pound by personal productive effort is rewarded with a 
certificate in colors signed by the Minister and the Director 
of Education. It was reported that thousands of these cer- 
tificates had already been issued. 

The most interesting feature of the guild is the kind of work 
in which the members engaged in winning the certificates. 
They have chopped wood, dug potatoes, milked cows ; they 
have gathered bones, fat, bottles, wool from the fences and 
scrub, iron, kerosene-tins ; they have snared and skinned 
rabbits, trapped foxes, caught fish, dug gardens, cleared tracks, 
done all kinds of odd jobs at home; these and many other 
activities represent the kind of efforts the boys and girls 
have put forth in helping the nation in a great cause. 

There are many stirring stories about the loyal services of 
the school children in raising the War Relief Fund, but only 
one may be mentioned here. In one school, in a very poor 
locality, a big lad took a job for the holidays. He earned 
ten shillings. When the school re-opened, he handed to his 
teacher all the money he had ever handled, tied up in a piece 
of rag. " I can't take it all, Jim," said the teacher, " give me 
half and keep the rest." " They want it more than me, sir," 
was the answer. 

By way of introduction to this section I have cited a few 
examples of what has been done by the school children in 
foreign countries. Now we may turn our attention to the war 
activities in the schools in this country. 

Junior Red Cross — One of the most significant movements 
in organizing school children for war service is the establish- 
ment of the Junior Department by the Red Cross. It has en- 
abled the school children to take an official part in the educa- 
tional work of the organization and served as an agency to 
coordinate all the civic and patriotic enterprises that claim 
the attention of the public school. When the Junior Red 
Cross movement was on foot last September, President Wil- 
son issued a special proclamation to the children of the coun- 
try. A portion of his message is as follows : 

" Our Junior Red Cross will bring to you opportunities of 



16 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

service to your community and to other communities all over 
the world, and guide your service with high and religious 
ideals. It will teach you how to save in order that suffering 
children elsewhere may have the chance to live. It will teach 
you how to prepare some of the suplies which wounded 
soldiers and homeless families lack. It will send to you 
through the Red Cross bulletins the thrilling stories of relief 
and rescue. And, best of all, more perfectly than through 
any of your school lessons, you will learn by doing these 
kind things under your teachers' direction to be the future 
good citizens of this great country which we all love." 

This appeal from the President has expressed the pedagog- 
ical significance of the movement and in a large measure made 
its phenomenal success possible. By January 1, 1918, the 
enrollment was 860,741 pupils, in 2,531 schools, under 563 
chapter school committees. Following the drive for member- 
ship in February, 1918, the membership grew rapidly until 
at the time of this writing, there are over 8,000,000 pupils 
under more than 3,000 chapter school committees. 

The exact records of the contributions made by the Junior 
members in the form of various hospital supplies and com- 
forts for the troops are not available. But we can safely 
say that there is no school in the country which has not 
taken up Red Cross work in one form or another. 

In Plainfield, N. J., the first school to become an auxiliary 
of the Junior Department of the Red Cross was a school 
for sub-normal children. So far as it is known, this school, 
which raised its own supply by a sale of articles made by the 
children, was the first public school in the country to organize 
on the national plan. 

In the State of New York, six weeks before the declaration 
of war by Congress letters were sent by the Commissioner of 
Education, John H. Finley, to school officials throughout the 
State, authorizing the sewing classes to do work for the Red 
Cross as a part of the regular class-work. The response was 
immediate ; and many schools had been at work and thousands 
of articles had been turned out long before the organization 
of the Junior Red Cross. 

In Los Angeles, California, where the public schools have 
been most efficiently organized for war service, Red Cross 
work was made a part of the regular curriculum. For the 
purpose of avoiding confusion and duplication of efforts vari- 
ous persons were appointed by the superintedent to supervise 
the work. According to the regulation no principal or teacher 
can use the pupils for any work of the Red Cross without 
the approval of the Chairmen who are in charge of the work. 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 17 

It was claimed that under such organization it was possible 
for the teachers and pupils in the elementary and high schools 
to prepare a very large amount of products without sacrificing 
any educational value. A recent school report of that city 
shows that within seven months no less than $23,000 worth 
of articles for the use of soldiers and sailors was produced 
by the school children. 

These are only a few typical cases of what has been done 
in Junior Red Cross work. Taking the country as a whole, 
the amount of products turned out by this new organization 
must have been enormous in the first year of the war, and it 
will probably be increased by many fold as long as the war 
lasts. As an example of war work this is inspiring. It is, 
however, worthy of consideration whether or not these actvi- 
ties have any educational value with regard to the content 
and method of school instruction, 

In the first place, the Junior Red Cross work offers to the 
children- a practical knowledge in many things which the 
traditional type of instruction can not and does not provide. 
Up to the present it has been difficult to devise ways in which 
the classroom activities in manual training and sewing may 
afford the means of really teaching the boys and girls some- 
thing which will be useful to them when they are thrown into 
the world on leaving school. The cost of the material and 
the lack of means in disposing of the products have led to 
an artficial kind of classroom work. We are familiar with 
the cry of some teachers of manual training that the making 
of coat hangers, model joints, and book racks does not satisfy 
the boy because he does not see the use of making them. 
They are in most cases used for the purpose of school exhibi- 
tion and give no sense of reality nor pride of achievement to 
the maker. How very much more practical and useful will 
be the knowledge gained by makng various kinds of hospital 
equipment for the Red Cross ! Again, in the sewing classes 
the old types of instruction are still much in evidence. The 
pupils are usually made to labor over sample stitch cards, 
making a dozen long rows of various stitches, perhaps ten 
of which they will never have any use for. Then this is 
followed by making doll clothes. As the final stage of this 
sewing work the pupils may spend several months in making 
fancy graduation dresses. How much better would it be to 
give the girls a significant training in attaining speed and 
skill by makng similar articles in large quantities for healing 
the wounds and relievng the sufferings inflicted by war ? The 
Red Cross furnishes a justifiable outlet for the school products. 
It comes to the schools with a need of articles requiring no 



18 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

less technical instruction and skill than the ordinary class- 
room work. It gives children a genuine sense of practical 
utility of their daily labor. 

In the scond place, the Junior Red Cross gives chil- 
dren a concrete opportunity for service. Service is the watch 
word of the day. It has become the yard stick by which 
human character is measured. The chief value of the Junior 
Red Cross in education lies in the fact that it demands of 
its members service, a service that is given with sacrifice. It 
makes the children feel that they are not the negligible units 
of the country and that they too can serve very effectively 
in the times of national distress and need. It helps the boys 
and girls to forget their own selfish interests in an endeavor 
to work for others. If this is not the best kind of mora! 
training, what better means can we have ? 

In the third place, the Red Cross study can be introduced 
as a part of the regular classroom work whenever the topic 
is being developed. Every kind of manual work has its cul- 
tural value, so has that of the Red Cross. In the public 
schools of Louisville, Kentucky, the study of the Red Cross 
organization has been carefully outlined for the regular in- 
struction in the classroom. The outline covers a great variety 
of common school subjects, such as Industrial Geography, 
Descriptive Geography, History, Civics, English, Arithmetic, 
and Art, and shows that in every one of these subjects the 
study of the Red Cross organization and activity can be in- 
corporated. Take for instance the Industrial Geography. The 
Outline suggests the following : 

" 1. Study of lumbering. 

A. The conservation of life in the lumber camp. A 

study of how the First Aid Department of the 
-Red Cross co-operated with lumber companies 
and the Bureau of Forestry to introduce First 
Aid Instruction among employees. 

B. Relief offered in times of forest fires, accidents, 
etc. 

" 2. Mining. The study to include : 

A. Instruction given to miners by the First Aid De- 

partment of the Red Cross. 

a. The extent and effectiveness of this instruc- 

tion. 

b. The co-operation of the railroads in this work. 

B. Relief offered by the Red Cross in times of acci- 

dents, fires, explosions, etc. 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 19 

" 3. The rehabilitation by the Red Cross of places that have 
been destroyed by earthquake, floods, famine, fire, 
etc. For example : 

A. San Francisco. 

a. The disaster. 

b. The immediate relief. 

c. The permanent relief and rehabilitation. 

B. The Chinese Famine and Plague (1911-1912). 

a. Description of causes. 

b. Relief measures. 

c. The plans outlined by the Red Cross repre- 
sentative for preventing these floods. 

• C. The Messina Earthquake. 

a. The disaster and general relief. 

b. Relief work at Syracuse ; road making, shoe- 
making, etc." 

Schools which are bound up with red tape and tradition, 
and school teachers who continue to teach history, geography 
and other school subjects in the same way as their grand- 
fathers were taught, can have no sympathy with this Junior 
Red Cross movement, because it upsets the regular school 
program as the result of their inability to see things in a new 
light and to adapt their work to meet the new needs. ' But 
schools that are keeping pace with the modern trend of 
pedagogy will welcome this opportunity to vitalize their courses 
of instruction and curriculize such activities on the ground 
not only of patriotic service but also of pedagogical de- 
sideratum. 

The Care of French Orphans — One of the most unique 
incidents of the war is the financial help given to the father- 
less children of France by the school children in this country. 
The movement for raising the French War Orphan Fund was 
first started in Los Angeles and spread rapidly to other 
cities within the past few months. As early as June, 1917, an 
appeal was made by the Superintendent of Los Angeles to the 
teachers and pupils of the public schools to aid the fatherless 
children of France. This campaign aroused the greatest in- 
terest among children of all ages. Those who had money 
contributed very liberally to the cause. Those who had tender 
hearts but scanty means often denied themselves many things 
so that the unfortunate children in France might not go 
hungry. In one of the schools in that city, where the chil- 
dren bring a penny daily for milk, the children voluntarily 
went without their morning meal, then turned the pennies 



20 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

into the school fund designated for such relief purposes. It 
was estimated that $36.50 per year would save the life of one 
of these children of France. The total amount contributed 
by the Los Angeles schools up to the beginning of 1918 ex- 
ceeded $20,000. 

Besides this French War Orphan Fund, American boys and 
girls have begun in ever increasing numbers to adopt war- 
cousins, furnishing small monthly or annual amounts of money 
to enable the French widows to raise their children in their 
own homes. The war-orphan learns the name of his young 
American benefactor and keeps correspondence with him. 
Thus a bond of friendship is formed between them which 
will prove to be endurable and unbreakable. 

In this particular kind of philanthropic work the Los 
Angeles schools have also done wonderfully well. Over a 
hundred of these children have been regularly adopted and 
the number has always been increasing. The most interesting 
features of these contributions were the letters sent by the 
benefactors to the little friends in need across the water. A 
few quotations may be made here. Los Angeles City Schools 
and the War. Bulletin No. 10, pp. 50-53.) 

One girl writes : " It is not strange that as soon as you 
receive my letter we are going to be chums. I won't ever for- 
get you, Jeanne, because I've already made up my mind what 
kind of a little girl you are. I would love to speak your 
language, Jeanne, my grandmother was French. . . ." 

Another girl writes : " I do not know you, but let us get 
acquainted with each other by writing often. I live in High- 
land Park, one of the suburbs of Los Angeles. It is a beau- 
tiful place, with its many flowers and delightful climate. In 
the distance are the mountains clothed in purple, nearer are 
the hills made green by the recent rains. The sunsets here are 
wonderful. I am sure you would become an ardent lover of 
nature as I am, if you lived in Southern California. 

" While we are not suffering from real Want, we are deny- 
ing ourselves to help feed the little French brothers and 
sisters of ours. 

" L will close, wishing yourself and your comrades God's 
protection." 

Another child writes : " I am writing to you to-day, June 
29th, on the last day of school, thinking meanwhile that I do 
not know anything about you except that you are one of the 
five little French children who were adopted by the school. 
My teacher gave the names and addresses of the children and 
told us to write to one of them and I chose you. I am very 
sorry that you have had such a terrible war in your country 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 21 

and hope sincerely it will end soon. You have my deepest 
sympathy and not only mine, but I think I am safe in saying 
you have that of every boy, girl, man and woman in the 

United States " 

Although this movement has not become nation-wide, 
a significant beginning has been made. The fact that many 
boys and girls in America are toiling and denying themselves 
to save the lives of many boys and girls in Europe will likely 
result in the creation of a new international spirit that will 
make the world a better, safer, and happier abiding place in 
the future. The world of to-day is to be the children's herit- 
age. These heart-touching manifestations of true interna- 
tional brotherhood between the members of the coming genera- 
tion are the most hopeful signs of a new international order 
which will forever make brutal warfare impossible. 

Liberty Loan Drives — With regard to the various Liberty 
Loan drives the school children have in no small measure 
helped in making each one of them a success. From the 
reports at hand we actually find that millions of dollars were 
subscribed either by the pupils themselves or by persons 
solicited by them. No attempt shall be made to enumerate 
the various devices of the campaigns carried on by the school 
children, but the work done in this connection by the high 
schools in Detroit can not be left without mentioning. 

Realizing the importance of enlisting the high school boys 
and girls of Detroit in the bond campaign, the Detroit Board 
of Commerce made, at the beginning of the second and third 
Liberty Loan drives, generous appropriations for the High 
School Committee. The Superintendent of schools, appreciat- 
ing the value of the services that would be rendered by the 
students and the benefits to be derived by them in an educa- 
tional way, authorized in each case all high school teachers 
of English to lay aside their regular work and make a study 
of conditions relating to the sale of bonds. Bulletins, which 
outlined the class activities and suggested the possible solu- 
tions to various problems, were prepared for the teachers and 
students. Numerous committees among the students were 
organized. Two-Minute Boys and Girls were selected. The 
weekly program of class activities during the period of the 
drive was systematically mapped out. The art of salesman- 
ship was carefully studied in the class room. And what is the 
most important of all is that a complete record of all the work 
done in the English classes was preserved by a collection 
of scrap-books and portfolios which contained materials of an 
intensely practical and patriotic nature ranging from salesman- 
ship talks and sales letters to plans of reconstruction after 



22 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

the loans have been oversubscribed and final victory achieved. 
Each English class was required to present a scrap-book and 
a portfolio in an attractive and creditable form to the Head 
of the Department of English or to the Principal as evidence 
of the fact that it had continued its training in English and 
had accomplished other patriotic duties at the same time. The 
scrap-book contains newspaper and magazine clippings, circu- 
lars, posters, pamphlets, government documents, pictures, car- 
toons, advertisements, and a collection of stray odds and ends 
bearing the spirit of the campaign. The portfolio contains 
copies of patrotic speeches, selling talks, dialogues, detailed 
minutes of class programs, book reviews and digests of maga- 
zine articles, copies of advertisements and posters prepared 
by the class, sales letters, a final statement of the results 
accomplished, and comments upon the weakness that might be 
corrected in future campaigns. From among the scrap- 
books and portfolios presented by each of the class in the 
high school, one of each will be selected for exhibiting in 
the public library or other places accessible to the public at 
large after the drive is over. The whole system is so unique 
in even- respect that I have no doubt that the interesting docu- 
ments thus preserved will have a very great historic value for 
the future. 

War Savings Movement — This movement was first started 
in England. On May 5, 1916, the English Board of Education, 
at the request of the Xational War Savings Committee, issued 
a circular asking for the assistance of local education authori- 
ties in making known through the public schools the facilities 
for saving offorded by the issues of war savings certificates. 
With the co-operation of the authorities and teachers, special 
lessons were given on the subject and copies of a leaflet ex- 
plaining the purpose of the war savings associations were 
widely distributed to parents through the children. As a 
result of the campaign a large number of war savings associa- 
tions have been formed in direct connection with the schools, 
and hundreds of thousands of certificates were purchased bv 
their members. The following are some typical instances of 
this movement as reported by the British Board of Education. 

" In one large populous Midland County the great majority 
of the schools have established associations. Most of the vil- 
lage associations were started by the schools and have grown 
until they have gradually absorbed the village ; one association 
thus formed in a remote village of 245 inhabitants has 77 
members and has purchased 556 certificates. In another 
Xorthern County some 70 per cent of the schools are taking 
part and there are nearly 10,000 subscribers ; 3,200 certificates 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 23 

have been bought. In a large County Borough in the Midlands, 
with 50 schools, an association has been formed in every 
school; a smaller Borough in the West of England has 20 
schools and 18 associations. Some striking examples of the 
success of individual schools are reported. In one Midland 
town a school of about 1,400 children purchased certificates 
to the value of 585 pounds in three months, of which one was 
a holiday month. In another school of 500 scholars in a 
Xorthern town every child wrote a letter to his parents asking 
permission to join the School War Savings Association, and 
the response was so good that on the next morning when the 
first subscriptions were received no less a sum than 234 pounds 
and one shilling was brought by the children. One school 
with 400 children, in a Xorthern County, has subscribed 1,557 
pounds and 1,500 war certificates have been bought. A remote 
little school in the same county, with only 10 children on its 
books, has 10 subscribers to the association, has saved 35 
pounds, and bought 43 certificates." (86). 

So much for England. Shortly after America's entrance 
into the war, a plan for two billion dollars of War Savings 
Stamps was put into practice. From all the answers to my 
questionnaire in this connection we find that members and 
officials of many school authorities, teachers and pupils have 
all entered into the thrift campaign with enthusiasm. In 
some cities the school savings banks have made special pro- 
visions to facilitate the purchase of War Savings Stamps by 
the children. In some others the principals and teachers are 
doing everything possible to encourage the children in this 
national undertaking. In still others, W. S. S. clubs have 
been organized among the pupils of some special classes. In 
other words, the public schools have responded very loyally 
to the appeal of the government in its endeavor of financing 
the war. 

Xow we may ask what is the significance of the movement 
from the educational point of view. 

In the first place, such a movement will serve as a great 
means for the inculcation of the habit of thrift among chil- 
dren. There can be no doubt in the minds of clear-thinking 
Americans as to the imperative necessity for thrift. America 
is the most prosperous nation in the world and is perhaps 
also ahead of all other nations in prodigality. Prosperity 
begets extravagance. Average people in America can earn 
money very easily. They are getting the highest wages in the 
world ; they have had the best opportunity in the world to save. 
But unfortunately, they are inclined toward improvident living 
and do not spend their earnings with wisdom and prudence. 



24 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

According to a recent estimate the per capita savings in 
America are $50, while in Denmark and Norway the per capita 
savings are $70, in Switzerland $86, in Australia $91, and in 
New Zealand $98. It is quite apparent that the American 
people have not learned the lesson of thrift. The only way 
to remedy this condition is to teach thrift as a branch of public 
instruction. The schools must bear the responsibility of teach- 
ing the children not only how to earn, but also how to save 
and how to invest, and through children the public may 
also be enlightened. 

In the second place, the war savings movement may mitigate 
the dangers of war with regard to the children's moral welfare. 
In England, the cases of juvenile delinquency have increased 
34% in seventeen large towns investigated. (See ref. 71.) 
One of the chief reasons for this increase is due to the " high 
wages earned by the children with absence of adult direction as 
to their disposal." As a direct result of the war, boys and 
girls have been largely employed at excessive wages. This 
earning power has developed a pseudo-independence which 
shows its demoralizing effect in a great many ways. This is 
one of the social problems England is facing to-day. In 
America the increase of juvenile delinquency has not been 
much in evidence. But with the scarcity of labor, the employ- 
ment of children, especially those of high school age, has given 
them an unprecedented opportunity to earn good wages. 
Since in childhood and youth instincts are strong and impel- 
ling for gratifictation, it is difficult for children to restrain 
themselves from yielding to attractive temptations on every 
hand, especially when they have plenty of money. The safest 
and surest way to safeguard their moral welfare is to create 
and foster in them a new interest and a new habit of thrift, 
so that they may invest what they have earned. The war 
savings plan seems to be a superb means for this purpose. 

In the third place, the training in thrift through the pur- 
chase of war savings stamps has a moral as well as a social 
value. The individual power of self-reliance must have thrifty 
practices as a foundation. Children who know what to do 
with their earnings, and who have a little savings in the bank, 
will feel augmented self-respect, widened mental interest, 
more sense of resposibility, and greater power of self-denial. 
The pride of really having earned something and the feeling 
of ownership give them a wholesome sense of self-dependence, 
upon the cultivaiton of which modern pedagogy can not lay 
too great emphasis. 

In conclusion, I may say that war has afforded a very great 
opportunity for direct moral instruction and training. The 



MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 25 

extraordinary demands of war service may in some slight 
degree disturb the ordinary school program, but such a dis- 
turbance may be a blessing in disguise. Every kind of school 
work may be motivated through the spirit of patriotism. 
Every kind of war service may augment the sense of loyalty 
and self-subordination in children. The educational benefit 
derived from the war activities may offset any real or fancied 
losses of school time. Will the public schools prove them- 
selves equal to this new opportunity and new task? 



CHAPTER II. 

SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 

In view of the important part which school children can play- 
in food production, the writer has included in a questionnaire 
sent out to school superintendents in different parts of this 
country the following two questions : 

1. How have your schools aided in food production (i. e., 
gardening, school or home) ? 

2. Have you made any provision for exempting children in 
the upper grades and high school from school attendance for 
farm work, and if so, how many, under what conditions, and 
for how long? Did the result of such action seem to justify 
it, and what is the sentiment? 

The answers to these questions so far received are most 
suggestive as to what the schools have been doing throughout 
the country. In some places, school grounds have been plowed 
up and put under cultivation; garden clubs have been organ- 
ized; vacant lots in the cities have been planted; boys of the 
upper grades and high schools have given their assistance upon 
farms where help could not be secured ; — these and many other 
things are being done in practically every state of the Union. 
From Michigan in the north to Florida in the south, from 
Maine in the east to California in the west, letters have been 
received from local school authorities stating what they have 
done and what they expect to do along these two lines. For 
the convenience of presenting the subject, I shall treat the 
problem of children's part in food production in two sections, 
namely, (1) school and home gardens, and (2) school chil- 
dren and farm work. 

1. School and Home Gardens 

No satisfactory statistical report can be made on this sub- 
ject on account of insufficient data. But enough has been 
received to show that there has been a nation-wide movement 
in school and home gardening since America entered the war. 
I shall introduce the subject by giving a few typical examples 
of what has been done in some states. 

California. — According to the statistical study made by 
Arthur H. Chamberlain, Chairman of the Committee on Thrift 
Education of the National Council of Education, there were 

26 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 27 

2,625 acres under cultivation in the 37 school districts investi- 
gated. Besides this there were thousands, of school gardens 
and home gardens aggregating 800 or 1,000 acres. Schools 
in the hilly regions, in the large cities, and in the agricultural, 
fruit and dairying districts have in general all made their 
contributions toward food production according to the facili- 
ties at their disposal. , 

Connecticut. — In the city of Stamford, every school has 
been conducting a garden or gardens, beside many home gar- 
dens that were started because of school initiative. In the 
same city the high school had a potato farm cultivated by the 
students, and credit was given for the work done. 

In the city of Hartford, a Vacant Lot and Home Garden 
Committee was formed. School children had a large part 
in the work of this Committee which cultivated 1,400 vacant 
lot gardens and hundreds of back-yard gardens. 

In some cities of this state special supervisors have been 
appointed to supervise the gardening projects. For instance, 
the school authorities in the city of Waterbury appointed a 
special instructor to supervise the work of 2,500 pupils who 
had gardens. In the city of Meriden, 850 children had gar- 
dens which were cultivated under supervision. 

Illinois.— The work done in the city of Joliet is typical. 
The Rotary Club plowed all the available vacant lots in the 
city, and school boys and girls took charge of their cultivation. 
This work was done under the direction of the school authori- 
ties. The food products were sold and the receipts divided, 
half going to the owner of the land and half to the students 
who cultivated it. In another suburban community, 980 chil- 
dren out of a total of 3,000 cultivated home gardens. From 
the answers to my questionnaire on this subject, there is 
enough evidence to show that much gardening work has been 
done throughout the state. 

Indiana. — Very systematic work has been done in school 
and home gardens in this state. Indeed, the whole state has 
been organized for this purpose. From the state office we 
learn that more than 80 teachers have been employed to 
supervise boys and girls in their projects for crop production 
and food conservation. The county agents in each of the 42 
counties have made definite plans for organizing and super- 
vising agricultural and garden clubs. 

Iowa. — Two typical cases may be mentioned. In answer- 
ing my questionnaire, the superintendent of Sioux City says: 
" We maintain regular garden work in the city during the 
summer. We have a garden supervisor who gives his whole 



28 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

time to this work and has the help of several assistants. We 
maintained successfully somewhere near one thousand gardens 
during last summer, and produced about 40,000 dollars worth 
of food productions." 

From a rural school district, the superintendent writes : 
" School and home gardens were planned and carried out 
last summer under the general supervision of one of the grade 
school principals. In the fall an exhibit of the products from 
these gardens was held, and prizes were awarded for the best 
exhibit. This work will be carried out to a still greater extent 
next summer, as the interest in this work throughout the 
community is very general." 

Kentucky. — The statement from the superintendent of 
Louisville may be suggestive as to what is done in this state. 
He says : " Shortly after the declaration of war the Board 
of Education extended the school and home garden work. A 
director was appointed on an all-year basis and a number 
of assistants was provided. For this work an annual appro- 
priation of $3,700 has been made. During the past summer 
this work was very successful and plans are on foot for secur- 
ing more extensive results in 1918." 

Michigan. — In Grand Rapids, about 1,300 children were 
organized in the garden clubs and had home gardens. These 
were under the direction of the County Farm Bureau with 
with four district supervisors in the city. 

In Detroit the Public Recreation Commission has organized 
garden clubs to cultivate vacant lots. The work has been 
under the direction of playground workers. There were 1,200 
gardens and 715 potato patch assignments. Potato patches 
were plowed and the seed furnished at cost. There were 
exhibits and competitions among the various classes and 
gardeners. 

In the city of Jackson, school gardens have been every- 
where encouraged. Besides the regular school gardens, there 
were 2,546 children, or 48% of the entire school enrollment 
that participated in gardening enterprises. 

New Jersey. — The schools of the entire state have been 
mobilized for food production. The Assistant Commissioner 
of Education heads the work of the Junior Industrial Army 
of New Jersey. This Junior Industrial Army consists of 
three divisions, agriculture, home gardens, and girls' service. 
People in different parts of the state are called upon to 
organize locally, and each county superintendent has been 
made responsible for the work of food preparedness in his 
own county. 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 29 

Oregon. — There is a complete organization of boys and 
girls in each county under the auspices of the boys' and girls' 
club work. These boys and girls are carrying out the different 
projects of poultry raising, egg raising, growing corn, pota- 
toes, and canning and baking. The Home Guard Girls are 
doing a great deal of work along the line of gardening and 
planting potatoes. A committee in every town in the state 
directs all the work. 

I have tried to present a few typical examples of what has 
been done in school and home gardens in some states of the 
Union. Here I wish to emphasize that Gardening can no longer 
be considered only as a pedagogical measure, but must be 
regarded as a national necessity. The first school garden 
in the United States was started at Roxbury (now a part of 
Boston, Mass.), in 1890. From that time on the school- 
garden movement has spread very rapidly. According to 
the statistics collected by the Bureau of Education in 1916, 
we find that 1,220 out of 1,572 superintendents, or 78% 
reported that they were encouraging some form of school- 
directed gardening among the children of their schools. The 
great diversity in the organizations, systems and accomplish- 
ments in different parts of the country has been emphatically 
pointed out by the Federal Commissioner of Education. In 
some cases school and home gardening has become an integral 
part of the school systems complete departments of school 
and home gardening or of gardening and nature study have 
been maintained and separate appropriations set aside for 
the work. In other cities, school boards have been willing 
to provide instructions in garden work and the supervision 
has generally been left to principals and teachers who 
either offered their services gratis or were paid a small addi- 
tional salary for the extra work in the garden. In still other 
cities, encouragement in gardening has meant merely talks 
on gardening by teachers and principals or the distribution 
of seeds in bulk, and nothing more was done. These diverse 
conditions of gardening work in the public schools have also 
been confirmed by my recent investigation. But the result 
of my own inquiry has convinced me that, old as the garden- 
ing movement has been, the war has given it a new value and 
a new vitalizing force for its development. Neither the 
school garden as a part of school activity nor the home garden 
as an adjunct to the school is a new idea, but the economical 
and educational values of both are just beginning to be 
appreciated by the necessity of war. As President Hall says : 
" The war is a great shell shock to the world ; it shatters 
and transforms the old institutions and beliefs." It has taken 



30 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

a great shock, like this war, to bring h6me to the schools 
in America, clearly and forcibly, the fact that gardening is 
one of the means of hitching the schools to the actual condi- 
tions of life. 

In general, the economical value of gardening has not 
been fully appreciated by the school men in this country. In- 
deed, quite, a few school superintendents have seriously ques- 
tioned the value of gardening in food production. Here I 
can say very positively, without fear of contradiction, that 
many million dollars worth of agricultural products, vegeta- 
bles, and fruits will be produced annually by the school chil- 
dren in the back yards of their homes and on available vacant 
lots, if gardening activities are encouraged, organized, directed, 
and supervised by the school authorities. Furthermore, the 
earnings from the garden activities will represent a clear gain 
for neither the land nor the labor would otherwise be utilized. 

Based on the Thirteenth Census Report we can safely say 
that there are about 12,000,000 school children between the 
ages of 9 and 16 in this country. Assuming that one-half of 
this number, or 6,000,000 pupils, should carry on garden work 
and that they should make an average profit of $50, the 
result would be a total profit of 300,000,000. This is by no 
means an over-estimation, both from the standpoint of the 
possible number of pupils who may undertake the work, and 
from the standpoint of the possible earnings. Reports at 
hand show that many city school pupils have made from 
$100 to $200 from their gardens. Under proper direction 
and with proper assistance, school boys and girls in the cities, 
towns, villages, suburban and manufacturing communities in 
the United States might easily earn $100 from their gardens 
annually. In this period of crying need for the increase of 
food supply, what greater contribution can the public schools 
make to the nation than by directing the surplus energy of 
their boys and girls into this kind of productive activity ! 

Besides this economic value, the educational value of gar- 
dening is threefold. In the first place, gardening gives the 
child the best kind of moral training at the period when the 
school closes its door in the summer for vacation. Statistics 
collected by the Bureau of Education show that about 85 per 
cent of the city children throughout the country remain at 
home during the long summer vacation, without proper em- 
ployment for any large part of their time. " Many of these 
children at the close of school wander about aimlessly and 
form themselves into gangs, and give outlet to their energies 
in ways that are not acceptable to other members of the com- 
munity or beneficial to themselves." Gardening is just the 
kind of work which will make a strong appeal to children's 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 31 

interests and meet their needs. It gives them something to 
do ; keeps them off the streets and out of mischief when they 
are idle during the long vacation. It teaches them the private 
care of public property, economy, honesty, appreciation, con- 
centration, self-goverment, civic pride, justice, the dignity 
of labor, and love for the beauties of nature which they can 
never have any opportunity to appreciate in the alleys, gutters, 
and dirty and noisy streets. Prof. James said : "Manual train- 
ing is the most colossal improvement that ever came into the 
schools of America, because the boys learn to work together, 
to look at each others work, and to help each other work, 
and become co-operative instead of selfish little imps who are 
trying to get ahead of their fellows and crow over it." Gar- 
dening, school or home, if properly organized and directed, 
possesses all these advantages of manual training with the 
added ones of the employment of children when they need 
something to do, utilization of vacant places which would not 
be utilized otherwise, work in the open air which is most 
essential for the health of the growing child, and opportunities 
for appreciating the beauties of nature which are often denied 
the children in the city. 

In the second place, gardening gives the child a knowledge 
of things which can not be obtained in the class-room. What 
he learns in the garden is the knowledge of nature, of real 
life, instead of dead books which he can not comprehend. 
Here he learns the nature of the seeds, their growth, appear- 
ance of leaves, flowers, enemies of gardens, such as bugs, 
birds, worms, flies, weeds, etc., the nature of the soil, and 
the seeds that thrive best in it. He learns to use spade, rake, 
and other agricultural instruments by actually handling them. 
He learns business method by planning, managing, selling the 
products and recording the results of his work. He learns 
through his own labor and experience his own failures and 
successes. If " learning to do by doing " is the slogan of 
modern education, there is certainly no better means of realiz- 
ing it than gardening work. 

In the third place, gardening gives the child the best kind 
of physical exersice which is most conducive to his healthy 
growth. This may sound trivial and commonplace, yet it is 
one of the most significant principles which modern pedagogy 
can never over-emphasize. Exercise in the open air and 
sunlight has been regarded as a great health invigorator; 
indeed, it has always been recommended for tuberculosis, par- 
ticularly in its incipient stage. The garden affords an excellent 
athletic ground to the growing child, where he can utilize his 
surplus energy in a healthy and productive manner. 

After this brief statement of the values of gardening I wish 



32 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

to offer some practical suggestions as to how it can be organ- 
ized and directed in a most practical and efficient manner. 

1. A thorough-going garden survey should be immediately 
made by the school authorities. In practically every Amer- 
ican city there are vacant lots and back yards aggregating 
many acres of land which can be turned into productive soil. 
The school authorities must have a clear knowledge of the 
local possibilities before any extensive gardening program 
can be made. 

In making the survey I should also like to suggest that 
the outline on this subject prepared by the Bureau of Edu- 
cation sometime ago be closely followed. The following points 
must be carefully investigated and recorded; — the number of 
children in each home between the ages of 9 and 16 years, 
number of boys, number of girls, occupation of these children 
during the previous summer, income from their work, amount 
of land available, estimate of the value of the products that 
may be grown, character of the soil, amount of garden work 
being done, who cares for the garden, opportunities for raising 
fruit, means of securing the vacant lots from the owner, the 
amount of rent to be paid, means of securing agricultural 
implements, the probable amount of seeds to be purchased, 
etc. This is the first step which ought to be taken by every 
city school authority. 

2. A special teacher with special training in gardening 
should be employed by every school having more than one 
hundred pupils of garden age. It is desirable that such a 
gardening teacher should not be expected to take care of more 
than two hundred children, and should be employed twelve 
months in the year, with four weeks vacation distributed in 
the four seasons. The salary of this teacher should not be 
less than $1,500 a year. 

When the school is in session this teacher should be expected 
to teach elementary science, nature study, and sometimes even 
manual training, and spend at least two afternoons a week, 
say, Wednesdays and Saturdays, in visiting the children in 
their homes and directing their work. During the vacation 
months he should spend all his time, six days a week, in 
visiting the children and giving them such instruction and help 
as they most need. He should arrange to meet all the chil- 
dren at least once a week during the summer in order to 
discuss with them problems which may arise. 

3. An age-limit should be made for the children who elect 
gardening work. It is the writer's opinion that children below 
9 years of age should not be drafted into the army of little 
garden workers, although some kind of encouragement should 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 33 

be given to them for their productive activity along this line 
conducted in the form of high grade play. 

4. A school exhibition of garden products should be held 
sometime in September in every city, and lectures on the 
achievements of the children should be given. It is at this 
time that the parents of the children and other people who 
are interested in this work should have a complete knowledge 
of what has been done and of what more is to be done in the 
future. Inexpensive prizes may also be awarded to the chil- 
dren who have done the best work. But the writer would 
hesitate to recommend the plan of giving prizes so profusely 
as was done in many places. 

No uniform program can be made for all the cities and 
towns in this country, but the above suggestions should be 
incorporated in any plan which any city may adopt. They 
are the general principles, while the detailed program must be 
worked out by the local school authorities in order to meet 
local conditions. 

II. School Children and Farm Work 

At the time of this writing about 150 answers to my ques- 
tion on this subject have been received from the county and 
city superintendents in different parts of the country. Prac- 
tically all school systems thus heard from have made some 
provision for exempting children in the upper grades and 
high schools from school attendance for farm work. The 
conditions under which the children were exempted were so 
different and the results obtained were so diverse, that it 
baffles any statistical treatment on the subject. For this reason 
I shall try and discuss some salient points of the problem on 
the basis of my inquiry. 

Age-limit 

Very few school systems which have made provision for 
releasing children for farm work have taken the problem of 
age-limit into consideration. Many cities as well as rural dis- 
tricts exempted children of the upper grades and high schools 
to work on the farm, without any regard to their age. Many 
others exempted children at the age 14; and still others even 
exempted children at the age 12. In the state of Kansas, 
the State Board of Education authorized the local boards 
to excuse children of any age, at any time, and for any length 
of time, by adopting a resolution which reads as follows : 
" Resolved, That superintendents and principals be advised 
that in view of the war situation and the food crisis, the 
State Board of Education will approve of granting a full 



34 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

year's credit to pupils who have passing grades and who 
find it necessary to withdraw from school before the end of 
the school year either to enlist in the military service or 
actually engage directly in food production." The state super- 
intendent of Missouri took similar action with the exception 
that an age-limit of 14 years was specified. In a letter to the 
local superintendents, he said : " Excuse at once from your 
high school all boys over 14 years of age who will go to farms 
and work. Give them full credit for their year's work at the 
end of the school year, with the standing they have at present. 
Do not let any one impose on you, but have the boy who gets 
the credit give evidence satisfactory to you as to his work 
on the farm. Include boys who live in the country, and boys 
who will go to the farm to work. Extend the privilege to 
such girls where you deem it desirable." In the state of Penn- 
sylvania, the statement from the superintendent of the city 
of New Castle is very significant. He says : "Under the 
authority of the State Board of Education last year, children 
over 12 years of age, who had done satisfactory work, were 
released before the close of school for farm labor. . . . 
The farmers do not take to it. They were still clamoring 
for experienced laborers. The town people and the children, 
I fear, consider it somewhat of a lark." 

Action of the similar nature was taken by many other states. 
To my mind, such action is ill-advised. It is short-sighted 
patriotism which tends to exploit the children to their dis- 
advantage and that of the naton. England has learned many 
costly lessons along this line, and found that her policy of 
recruiting agricultural and factory workers from school chil- 
dren was a policy of mortgaging the future generation for 
the exigencies of the present. Great efforts have been made 
by the British Board of Education to check the continuance 
of such short-sighted policy and to put a ban upon the local 
board in exempting children from school attendance under 
14. In spite of all these efforts, 15,753 children under 14 
were reported as excused from school for farm work in Eng- 
land, in May, 1916. What must be the situation in some of 
the states in this country where no restrictions on exempting 
children was made? 

Suggestions to the effect that children under 16 should 
not be sent away from home to work on farms have been 
made by The National Child Labor Committee and the U. S. 
Boys' Working Reserve after a careful study. This minimum 
age requirement shoud be adhered to by all local school au- 
thorities whenever the problem of releasing children for farm 
work comes up for consideration. The reason for this propo- 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 35 

sition has been very ably stated by William E. Hall, National 
Director of the U. S. Boys' Working Reserve. Thus he says: 
" W T e arrived at the decision to make the minimum age 16 
for boys who left home for work on farms after a careful 
examination of all the conditions surrounding farm life. . . . 
After receiving the reports on the work done on the farms 
by boys during the year 1917, we believe that our decision 
was right. The U. S. Boys' Working Reserve deals almost 
entirely with the city boy who, in many instances, is leaving 
his home for the first time to live amid strange surroundings. 
It is most important that he be mature enough to take care 
of himself under all conditions and that he be strong enough 
to stand the rigors of hard work on the farms." 

Avoid Interruption of School Attendance 

In taking action on exempting children we must always bear 
in mind that to go to school regularly is both their duty and 
right. They are the assets of the nation. We can not afford 
to infringe their birthright of going to school under any 
circumstance. If the necessity of this terrible war compels 
us to let them work on the farms in order to save the crops, 
we must see to it that their school work is as little interfered 
with as possible. From the investigation made by the National 
Child Labor Committee on the causes of absences from rural 
schools in Oklahoma, we have come to know to what extent 
we have neglected the enforcement of school attendance laws 
in favor of farm work even in times of peace. In the state of 
Oklahoma the law requires children between 8 and 16 to 
attend school at least 66 per cent of the time it is in session. 
But the investigation shows that in some school districts only 
66 per cent of the children met this modest requirement of 
the law. Of all the causes of absence from school, farm work 
was by far the predominating one. Furthermore, only 51.9 
per cent of the farm-working absentees attended 66 per cent 
or more of the time. In other words, 48.1 per cent of them 
attended the school less than two-thirds of the time they 
should be there. This was the condition in time of peace. 
What special precautions do we have to take in time of war, 
when the exemption of children for farm work is everywhere 
considered as a measure of national necessity? 

Shortly after America's entry into the war, the State Board 
of Education in California was given power to reduce the 
school term to six months, with the approval of the governor, 
when necessary " for the planting or harvesting of crops or 
for other agricultural or horticultural purposes." In New 
York the Commissioner of Education was given power to 



36 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

suspend the compulsory education law from April first to 
November first during the war, " for the purpose of aiding 
and performing labor in the cultivation, production and care 
of food products and gardens within the state." The majority 
of the cities and rural districts heard from in the course of 
my enquiry exempted children last year, 1917, from May to Oc- 
tober ; others from April 15th to October first; still others, from 
April 15th to November first. It is quite apparent that many 
children have suffered tremendously from an interruption of 
their course of school training as a result of such action. I 
do not hesitate for a moment to say that action of this kind 
is of doubtful wisdom, if we consider the welfare of the 
children and also that of the nation in the long run. No matter 
how great the amount of the increase of food supply might 
have been, this was too high a price to pay. 

In order to avoid serious interruption of school attendance 
and at the same time to meet the demands of the farmers 
when help can not be secured, the following suggestions may 
be worthy of our careful consideration. 

In the city of Watertown, N. Y., the school authorities have 
planned to postpone the Easter vacation to the first week in 
May, and to designate it " planting week." Instead of turning 
the high school boys onto the farms at the expense of school 
work, they have also planned to organize these boys who are 
willing to undertake farm work and run the high school from 
eight to 12 :30. In case of calls from the farmers, they can be 
sent out in the afternoons in automobiles into the territory 
where their service is needed. It is their contention, in which 
I concur, that ten, fifteen, or twenty boys under competent 
direction would do much in the afternoons, and still be able 
to continue their school work in the mornings. 

The Board of Public Education in Philadelphia is develop- 
ing a plan of organizing into two groups the high school pupils 
who are going to take up farm work. The first group will 
leave about the first of May and return for school the first 
of August. The second group will leave the first of August 
and return the first of November. This plan will of course 
necessitate keeping at least one of the high school buildings 
open during the entire summer. But if the school work of 
the pupils can be protected from serious interruption by this 
plan, it is certainly worth trying. 

In Madison, Wisconsin, the school authorities have planned 
to give subjects in the high school in two courses during the 
second semester. One course follows the usual procedure 
and the other will be given in a condensed and abbreviated 
form, to enable those boys who wish to go to the farm to 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 37 

finish the work of the year by April 15th. During this same 
period some form of practical farm training has also been 
planned for these same boys. They will be sent on Saturdays 
to machinery agencies, to gardeners whose tracts are near the 
city, and to some of the best farmers in order to enable them 
to get some insight into the activities of the farm. In addi- 
tion to this, some few consecutive days may also be allowed to 
groups of boys who may desire to go to the country to make 
themselves familiar with actual farm operations. This is an 
excellent plan to meet the abnormal condition, but the writer 
can by no means agree to the proposition that the children 
should be excused as early as April 15th. He is quite con- 
vinced that there is no great necessity of sending the boys 
to the farms earlier than the middle of May. 

The fourth plan of avoiding the loss of school work will 
be to make vacation suit farm needs. It may be well to divide 
the vacation into two periods ; one covers the season of plant- 
ing and the other the season of harvesting. It has been 
said that California has already been making plans of this 
nature in order to shift the vacation from the usual time and 
adjust them to the necessities of agriculture. 

No one of the above mentioned plans can serve as a gen- 
eral solution of the problems which are peculiar to different 
localities. But they are very suggestive as to what may be 
done in meeting the difficulty. Plans may differ, but the 
aim should always be the same ; that is, to meet the demands 
of war without a serious interruption of the education which 
is building youth in the principles of manhood and of efficient 
citizenship. 

Scholarship Requirements 

The tendency to make school standing one of the condi- 
tions under which exemption would be granted was practically 
universal. The general form of this requirement was that 
children were granted the full year's credit, if their scholar- 
ship was passable at the time when they left school. This 
requirement is very excellent in itself, if it be strictly carried 
out. Unfortuately this was not done. Evidences are 
not lacking to show that many children in some places who 
did not have passing grades went to the farms in order 
to get credit and promotion. I can not resist the temptation 
to quote an amusing story about a boy in the state of Missouri 
and his effort to cheat the school and himself in this con- 
nection. The story runs as follows : " One boy whose father 
owned a farm told his father he was to leave school to work 
on the farm. His father said it was not necessary as he had 
all the labor he needed. The boy insisted and finally told his 



38 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

father that his only chance for promotion lay in leaving school 
to do farm work." This story seems too amusing to be true, 
but undoubtedly many cases like this must have happened 
elsewhere. Teachers and principals of public schools should 
be aware of this kind of " camouflage " and see to it that no 
promotion be granted to any child under any circumstance 
unless he really deserves it. 

Furthermore, provisions should be made for the children 
who leave school early in the spring to make up their work 
in the fall before promotion is granted. It would be very 
unwise to give the children a guarantee of promotion before- 
hand. Make them work for it. The reason for this sugges- 
tion has been clearly and forcibly expressed by the statement 
made by the superintendent of Waltham, Mass. He says : 
" We are struggling with the problem this year when we are 
appealed to to release students for about three months. Senti- 
ment seems to demand it. But unless students will them- 
selves speed up and so make up the work which their classes 
will do, we do not see how we can restore them to their 
classes in the fall. While we recognize that the experience 
may be richly educative, we do not see how it can be substi- 
tuted for mathematics or science or foreign language so as 
to enable the student to keep step with his class. Honesty 
forbids us to assure students or their parents — as some would 
have us do — that a boy may eat his cake and have it too, even 
in war time." Quite a few superintendents have expressed 
this same feeling. Unless some provision is made to assist 
the pupils in making up the work they lose, I do not see how 
promotion can be granted to them when they can not keep 
step with their class work. 

Survey of the Demand for Farm Labor 

It seems to be a truism that schools should not excuse chil- 
dren from regular school work if they are not needed on the 
farms. But this simple truism was ignored by many school 
authorities who excused children from school without knowing 
where the children were going to work or whether they were 
needed. In New Jersey one camp of boys was organized last 
summer under the State's Junior Industrial Army and housed 
in a high school building. But there was not enough work in 
the vicinity to keep the boys busy, so they were found mowing 
lawns and trimming hedges on large estates or pulling weeds 
out of the city roads. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, 35 
high school boys went to the farm, but their camp was soon 
broken up for the reason that there was not enough work to 
pay for keeping the camp going. In Watertown, New York, 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 39 

high school boys were permitted to leave school for farm 
work. The expectation was that they would continue the 
work throughout the summer. But on the first of July most 
of the boys returned home and went to work in munition 
factories on account of not having enough work on the farm. 
Examples like this can be multiplied indefinitely. The edu- 
cational loss in these cases is enormous and also inexcusable. 
I can never over-emphasize the statement that such or similar 
conditions should never be allowed to happen again. We must 
be sure that there is need of child labor on the farm before 
we exempt the children. Failing to do this will greatly harm 
the cause of public education. 

Training Children for Farm Work 

In spite of the popular clamor for children on farms, quite 
a few superintendents have stated that farmers did not want 
to employ city boys as many people thought they would. This 
general testimony corroborates the findings of the investigation 
made by the National Child Labor Committee in the summer 
of 1917. In an attempt to find out the demand for child 
labor on the farm, the National Child Labor Committee sent 
out a questionnaire to all grange officers throughout the 
country asking if farmers in their vicinity wanted city chil- 
dren to work on their farms. Of all the replies, 72 per cent 
said ' no.' Some of the reasons given for this negative answer 
were as follows : (78) 

" City boys are not worth their keep on a farm." 

" The work is too heavy for children." 

" City boys do not understand how to drive a horse or 
handle machinery." 

" Horses are too valuable to trust to children." 

" There is nothing for children to do in this vicinity as we 
do our work by machinery." 

" It would take two farmers to one boy." 

" Tending small corn is a delicate business for a city-bred 
child, while haying and harvesting are too heavy work for 
one not accustomed to labor in the hot sun." 

" How would manufacturers like to have green hands come 
into their shops for a few days? The same question can be 
applied to the farmer in trying to work school children who 
would simply be under foot." 

From these sample statements one can clearly see that 
farmers do not want city boys who are not familiar with 
the farming operations or too young to undertake the heavy 
task that farm work often involves. But city boys over 16 
years of age with good health and alert minds can learn the 



40 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

rudimentary farming operations in a week or ten days, if 
proper training be given to them. The work accomplished 
by the Agricultural Cadets in the orchards and fields of 
Betsy River Orchard Company, Michigan, may serve as an 
excellent illustration of this point. When the superintendent 
of the company was asked to give his opinion about the work 
done by the boys, he made the following statements: (15) 

" The first week or so the boys were not much good. None 
of them had ever been on a farm before, and they didn't 
know a horse from a cow. But they were quick and eager to 
learn, and from the start they took a keen interest in learning 
how to work. . . . 

" When we sent them out to spray an orchard, Bob John- 
son, my Michigan Aggie man, would go along and teach them 
how to do it. He worked along with them until he was abso- 
lutely sure that they could be trusted to do the work right 
before he left them any work on their own responsibility, and 
even then he would go back every hour or so to see how they 
were getting along. We soon had them doing the more simple 
work, like hoeing potatoes and beans, but even there you 
would be surprised how much teaching we had to do — show- 
ing them the difference between beans and weeds, for instance. 

" Later, we had them doing more particular work like spray- 
ing, and of course, had to begin at the bottom to teach every 
time we changed jobs. It was noticeable, however, that we 
•rarely had to show them the second time. The boys learned 
very easily and quickly and really tried to do their best." 

The ways of training boys for farm work are many, but 
only two can be mentioned here. In the first place, an inten- 
sive farm training camp may prove very effective for the 
purpose. The most noteworthy case of this kind is the train- 
ing camp which is going to be established in Indiana. On a 
640-acre farm loaned by Straus Brothers Company the U. S. 
Boys Working Reserve will build a farm training camp where 
boys between 16 and 21 will be mobilized and given a three 
weeks' intensive farm training in the rudiments of agricul- 
ture and actual farm operations. As a group of boys com- 
pletes its three weeks' training, it will be sent to different 
places to work. The whole plan is analogous to the officers' 
training camps. I have no doubt that such a plan will prove 
to be very valuable in increasing the efficiency of young farm 
worke'rs whose ingnorance of farming operations has con- 
stantly been a great embarrassment to their employers and 
themselves. 

In the second place, the plan of introducing a practical 
course of agriculture in the curriculum of high schools, as is 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 41 

being done in Illinois, is by far the best one so far devised. 
Beginning the first of February, 1918, the boys in the state of 
Illinois enrolled in the U. S. Boys Working Reserve were made 
to speed up on their studies for the ensuing three months, and 
in addition were required to take the 25 Farm Craft Lessons 
which were prepared under the direction of Dean Davenport 
of the University of Illinois and which were designed to give 
them a practical knowledge of horses, livestock, dairying, 
poultry, seeds, fertilizers, farm tools, gardening, gas engines, 
crops, planting, and harvesting. Credits will be given for 
this special work done in school and for the practical work 
in the summer months. 

Beside this class-room instruction, practical work in the 
use of farm machinery, caring of the stock, harnessing and 
handling horses, etc., has also been provided, and the boys 
have been taken on field trips to stockyards, stock shows, farm 
exhibits and local agricultural fairs. 

This plan is unique in its character and practical in its 
scope. By this plan the schools are made to teach the pupils 
to play the real game of life of which city-bred boys are often 
grossly ignorant. What is being done in Illinois can certainly 
be done elsewhere with equal advantage and success. 

Organization, Inspection, and Supervision 

The problem of organization, inspection, and supervision 
of the boys at work is infinitely more complex than any one 
of the points so far discussed. Every locality has its own 
peculiar problem to solve. Plans which have been worked 
out in one place may be utterly inadaptable to any other place. 
Consequently discussions of this problem can be made only 
in very general terms. 

Taking the country as a whole, there are three main condi- 
tions under which the boys may work on the farm. First, 
one or two boys may be employed by a farmer and live 
with him. Second, boys or groups of boys may work on 
a nearby farm and live at their own homes. Third, boys 
or groups of boys may work on farms, many miles away from 
their homes, and live at farm camps. In each of these cases 
some kind of inspection or supervision must be provided by 
the local Board of Education in co-operation wifh other state 
or local agencies. 

In the first case, the most important problem is the place- 
ment of the child. The environment in which the child is 
going to live, the kind of work and the hours of labor which 
the child is expected to perform, and the wages which the 
farmer is willing to pay should be investigated before the child 



42 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

is definitely placed. The farmer is just as likely to exploit the 
child as the manufacturer. Unless some definite agreement 
is made with the farmer beforehand, it will be unwise to leave 
the child to him for his exploitation. We must remember that 
to utilize boy-power for food production is to meet the present 
exigency of national crisis, not to supply the farmer with cheap 
labor. What was done in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is worth 
noticing in this connection. Last year about three hundred 
boys in the upper grades and high schools were carefully 
placed on the farms by the school authorities. The Board 
of Education employed a competent man to visit them and 
adjust their difficulties. This seems to be one of the many 
ways in which the school can safeguard the children from 
undesirable environments, over-work, exploitation, and neg- 
lect. 

In the case of boys or a group of boys working in the 
nearby farms and living at home, some kind of organization 
seems to be very necessary in order to secure satisfaction for 
all concerned. Just what kind of organization is necessary 
for any particular place is a question for the local school 
board or other social agencies to decide. But I shall describe 
the system which was worked out in Idaho, in order to throw 
some light on the question. 

In the southern part of that state there was a great need 
of labor to harvest the fruit crop and alfalfa last year, 1917. 
Appeal for help was made to the school authorities and many 
boys were permitted to go to the farms. They were orgaized 
into groups of ten. Every group elected its own captain in 
whom the power of discipline was invested. The captain's 
words were law during the work hours, whether in the orchard 
or in the hay field. In no case did the farmers deal with the 
boys directly. Everything was done through the captain. 
If they had any orders to give, they gave them to the captain, 
who, in turn, passed them to the boys. Now and then disputes 
arose over counting the boxes of fruit picked by the boys, but 
they were all adjusted through the captain. This squad organi- 
zation has proved to be very satifactory, both for the farmer 
and for the boys themselves. Furthermore, organization of 
this kind has to some extent solved the problem of transport- 
ing the boys Rack and forth between their homes and the places 
of their work. Through the co-operation of the business men 
in the towns of that state who volunteered the use of their 
machines, the boys were taken out of the cities and towns 
to work at 7 o'clock in the morning and taken back to their 
homes at night. One can easily imagine how such squad 
organization has helped in solving this transportation problem. 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 43 

With regard to the organization of farm camps, there are 
three things which merit our attention. In the first place, a 
camp should not be established in a place where there is not 
enough work to keep it up through the summer. This seems 
to be a commonplace truth, yet many undesirable results have 
happened merely on account of ignoring it. In the second 
place, camp sanitation must be strictly observed in order to 
safeguard the health of the boys. In the third place, one camp 
supervisor for every 25 boys should be appointed and paid 
by the state. He should be a' man of character and initiative, 
a man who possess an insight into the nature of adolescent 
boys. A successful scout master will be just the person for 
such a task. These are only general principles. For detailed 
organization the service of the camp experts should always 
be sought. 

Education Value of Farm Work 

After this brief discussion of exempting school children for 
farm work we may say that there are difficulties yet to be 
obviated and problems yet to be solved. But we should not 
let these difficulties and problems blind us to the fact that 
farm work for city boys of adolescent age possesses an educa- 
tional value which can not be surpassed by any subject in the 
high school curriculum. In farm work city boys gain acknowl- 
edge of real things and of real life which they can never 
expect to gain in reading a few pages of Latin grammar or 
in working out a few puzzles in geometry. Far be it from 
me to minimize the educational value of farm work for boys 
of proper age, under proper organization, training, and super- 
vision. It would mark a great step of advance in modern 
pedagogy, if city boys between 16 and 21 were given an 
opportunity to be employed on the farm during the long 
summer vacation, in order to get in contact with nature, to 
appreciate the realities of life, to gain first hand knowledge 
of animals, plants, trees, and fields in an unsophisticated man- 
ner, to recognize the dignity of labor by actual participation, 
to increase their physical vigor by working in the open air 
and sunlight, and to shift their usual interest in gangs and in 
loafing at the street corners and gutters to productive activities 
which are both beneficial to the community and to themselves. 
But the writer strongly objects to any action of letting chil- 
dren out of school with the expressed purpose of supplying 
the farmer with labor without any consideration of their 
physical capability or incapability of undertaking heavy farm 
work, without any knowledge of where they are going or 
how they are to be employed, without making any provision 
for them to make up the school work they lose in order to 



44 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

enable them to keep pace with their classes, and without any 
definite plans of organization, inspection, and supervision of 
the boys at work, to safeguard their physical and moral well- 
being. The children of to-day will be the citizens of to-mor- 
row. If the function of the school is to train children for good 
citizenship, then it is the duty of the school masters to see 
to it that the children's interests — interests which are most 
vital for their physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual growth 
— are carefully protected. 

In addition to the protective measures to be adopted in 
connection with exempting children for farm work, there is 
one more suggestion I wish to make, that is, a course in prac- 
tical farming should be made a required subject of study in 
every high school throughout the country. It is absurd to 
preach the dignity of labor to children and yet not consider 
the elements of labor worth the dignity of being taught in 
the school. If farm work is expected to be taken up by boys 
of proper age, in order to increase the food production of 
the nation, then a practical farm course should certainly have 
a place in the school curriculum. What has been called Farm- 
craft Lessons introduced in Illinois high schools should be 
adopted by all the high schools in every state of the Union. 
Subjects like the feeding, care, driving, and working of the 
horse, the care and milking of the cow, the care of cattle, 
pig, and sheep, the process of raising poultry, the handling and 
the care of wagon and plow, the use of manure and artificial 
fertilizer, the use and care of shovel, spade, hoe, rake, pitch- 
fork, and other tools, the recognition of weeds and their de- 
struction, the harvesting of hay and grain crops, the operating 
and care of farm machinery, the ways of building fences and 
gates, etc., should be taught to every boy who passes through 
the door of the high school. Knowledge of this kind is both prac- 
tical and useful and possesses a fascinating nature to the boys, 
urban and rural, rich and poor, alike. Pedagogues who have 
been in the habit of reducing everything introduced into the 
school to scholastic hypermethodic form can not and will not 
appreciate the educational value in planting potatoes, in picking 
fruits, or in operating a harvesting machine in the grain field. 
But their conservative view must be changed. The value of 
school subjects is being tested by this world war. The simple, 
plain, and sun-clear reasons given by farmers for their unwil- 
lingness to employ city boys on their farms should give the 
pedagogues some food for thought. High schools have always 
been a stronghold of conservatism. We have been teaching 
the general principles of drawing, mathematics, physics, chem- 
istry, etc. ; but the physics and chemistry of nothing in particular. 



SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 45 

We have been teaching botany, zoology, and other natural 
sciences, but they are to be studied by sections through a 
microscope. The knowledge thus gained by the boys is most 
fragmentary in nature. They lose sight of the unity in the 
subject itself and its relation to civilization and social weal. 
Can we wonder why city-bred boys can be of so very little ser- 
vice on the farm and the farmers do not want them ? If the war 
has compelled us to utilize boy-power on the farm as a national 
necessity, can we advance any argument that practical farming 
operations should not be taught in the schools ? 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, I may say that gardening is not a movement 
started by the war, but war has made us appreciate its value. 
Under proper organization and direction, it helps to increase 
the agricultural output of the nation and serves to vitalize 
the school curriculum. What we have done under the neces- 
sity of war must be continued in time of peace. 

Farm work for boys of proper age is a real education in 
itself. It should be encouraged, organized, directed, and 
supervised by the school authorities, war or no war. But 
to exempt children from school attendance for farm work is 
a war measure and can only be justified by the real needs 
of war. It can only be done under the most carefully regu- 
lated conditions. Let me repeat the slogans now prevailing 
in England : " The child is the nation's greatest treasure," 
and, " We have no right to handicap these children because 
of the State's necessities of the moment." 



CHAPTER III. 
MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

The problem of military training in the public schools is a 
question which involves a great diversity of opinion among 
those who have been giving serious thought to it. The term 
military training is very elastic in its meaning and can be con- 
ceived by different people to mean different things. It is 
used alike by those who would like to turn the public schools 
into actual military camps and by those who would advocate 
the policy of giving the boys a broad physical education so 
as to enable them to become efficient soldiers later on when 
such general training is supplemented by technical military 
drill. Most of the pros and cons on this important problem 
are due to the different conceptions of the term rather than 
the uncompromising attitudes of those who discuss the two 
sides of the issue. The difference of opinion centers on the 
means and methods by which military training should be 
provided rather than its aim — which is to prepare the youth 
for efficient citizenship in peace or in war. 

In collecting data on this important subject the writer has 
included in the questionnaire referred to in a former chapter 
the following question : 

Have you military training in the high school, and if so, 
what, and how much time is given? 

In addition to this questionnaire the writer has also endeav- 
ored to collect all the laws enacted or any bills being con- 
sidered by the different state legislatures on this problem. 

At the time of this writing very few states in this country 
have had any law concerning military training in the public 
schools, and only one state has made such training compulsory 
for able-bodied boys of certain age who are now receiving 
free public instruction. But from the returns of my question- 
naire we find that in practically every state of the Union there 
are at least some cities which provide an elective course of 
military instruction for a sufficient number of students who 
wish to take it. The kind of instruction offered and the 
amount of time devoted to it are of such diverse nature that 
it would be impossible to present them in full without greatly 
lengthening this chapter. For this reason I choose to present 
here only the salient features of the laws aud practices which 
we find in this country. 

46 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 47 

I. Laws and Practices of Military Training in Dif- 
ferent School Systems 

Roughly speaking, the laws and practices of military train- 
ing in different school systems can be classified according to 
the narrow and broad interpretations of the term military 
training. When it is taken in its narrow sense, it means that 
kind of training which consists of a few drills in each school 
week in the manual of arms and close-order formation. The 
kind of military training which we find in the public schools 
is very commonly of this type. When military training is 
taken in its broad sense, it means that kind of training which 
may not include military drill and yet whose main purpose 
is to give the youth such an all-round physical, moral, and 
mental development as to make him capable of rendering 
service to his country, either as a private citizen, or, after a 
short period of intensive drill in the training camp, as an 
efficient soldier. It is upon this distinction that the discussion 
in this chapter will be based. 

1. Laws providing military training in the public schools: 
With only one exeception the laws of the different states con- 
cerning military training are based on the narrow meaning of 
the term. 

Arizona — A law providing for the organization, control and 
equipment of the state normal and high school cadet com- 
panies was enacted last year, 1917. The law provides : 

a. The male students of any state normal or high school 
having thirty or more such students, fourteen years of age 
or over, shall be organized into a cadet company or companies. 

b. The cadets shall be drilled in accordance with the drill 
regulations prescribed by the United States army. 

c. Target practice shall constitute a part of the instruction 
to be given. 

d. The training shall not exceed one-half hour each day. 

e. For the organization and supervision of this work a 
Normal School and High School Cadet Commission shall be 
created. 

Indiana — In March, 1917, the State Legislature passed a 
law regulating the system of military training but making no 
specification of the kind of training to be given. The two 
main points of the law are as follows : 

a. Whenever a high school in the state institutes a system 
of military instruction, it shall be authorized to receive arms, 
ammunition and equipment from the United States govern- 
ment and pay out of the special school fund all the necssary 
expenses. 



48 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WA1? 

b. No system of military training or education shall be 
instituted or carried on in any school, unless the same be 
under the supervision of an instructor detailed for that pur- 
pose by the federal government, or a competent person cer- 
tified by the state board of education. 

Louisiana — An act requiring the teaching of military science 
and tactics in all the high schools was passed by the- state 
assembly in July, 1916. The law reads : 

" Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the 
State of Louisiana, That, in addition to the branches in which 
instruction is now given in the public schools of the State of 
Louisiana, instruction shall also be given to the male pupils 
thereof whenever practicable in all grades higher than the 
eighth grade in the principles and practices of military science 
and tactics, especially with reference to the duties of the sol- 
dier and object of general military interest. 

" Section 2. Be it further enacted, etc., That in all grades 
of the public schools of the state higher than the eighth, at 
least one hour a week shall be devoted to instruction, study 
and practice of military science and tactics." 

Michigan — The Act requiring the establishment of an 
optional course of military training in all high schools in the 
state reads as follows : 

" Section 1. Hereafter is shall be the duty of all boards 
of education or boards of trustees of school districts main- 
taining one or more high schools within their respective dis- 
tricts to establish a course of military training for such high 
school or high schools, such course to be optional with the 
students of such high schools : Provided, That nothing herein 
contained shall apply to cities or villages having less than five 
thousand population. . . . 

" Section 2. Hereafter it shall be the duty of all boards 
of education or board of trustees of any school district to 
maintain a course of military training, as provided in this act, 
shall subject said board to removal from office, after a hear- 
ing with proper notice, by the State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction." 

New Hampshire — A law was passed last year, 1917, which 
authorizes the public schools to include military drill and 
physical exercises in the courses of instruction. But what kind 
of instruction and how much time should be given were entirely 
left to the discretion of the local school boards. 

Oklahoma — The state law authorizes the local school boards 
to provide for military training, athletic contests between 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 49 

schools, and physical examination of pupils. The boards are 
also authorized to accept assistance from the war department 
of the United States and the National Guard of the state 
for the purpose of military drill and training. The law- 
further provides that a Board of Control, consisting of five 
members, shall be created for the carrying out of these pro- 
visions. 

Oregon — The state law only recognizes the military train- 
ing in the public schools as lawful, but makes no further 
provision. 

The first and the only state which has enacted a law on 
military training in its broad sense is the State of New York. 
In 1916 the state legislature passed the so-called "Welsh- 
Slater " bills, making military and physical training com- 
pulsory in the secondary schools of the state for all boys above 
16 and under 19 years of age. The essential points of the law 
are as follows : 

The Military Commission — The law requires the establish- 
ment of a military commission composed of the Major Gen- 
eral commanding the National Guard ex-officio, a member 
to be appointed by the Board of Regents of the university, and 
a member to be appointed by the governor. The duty charged 
to the Commission was that it shall " recommend from time 
to time to the Board of Regents the establishment in such 
schools (elementary and secondary), of habits, customs and 
methods best adapted to develop correct physical posture and 
bearing, mental and physical alertness, self-control, disciplined 
initiative, sense of duty and the spirit of co-operation under 
leadership." 

Compulsory Physical Training — The law also requires the 
instruction in physical training and kindred subjects for all 
male and female pupils above the age of eight years in all 
elementary and secondary schools. The kind of physical 
training shall be determined by the Military Training Com- 
mission, and the time spent for it shall be not less than twenty 
minutes in each school day. 

The private schools in the state are equally responsible for 
the giving of such courses as prescribed by the Commission. 
If any private school fails to establish and maintain such 
courses, attendance upon instruction in such school shall not 
be deemed substantially equivalent to instruction given to chil- 
dren of like ages in the public school or schools of the city 
or district in which the child resides. 

Compulsory Military Training — With regard to military 
training the law requires that every able-bodied boy between 
the ages of 16 and 19 must receive military instruction in or 



50 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

outside of the schools. For the boys who are in public or pri- 
vate schools or colleges, the periods of military instruction are 
to aggregate not more than three hours in each week during 
the school or college year. For the boys who are outside of 
the schools, the periods devoted to military training are to 
aggregate not more than three hours in each week between 
September first of each year and the fifteenth day of June 
next ensuing. Summer military training camps covering a 
period of not less than two or more than four weeks are to 
be established for the training of all the boys under the scope 
of the law at the expense of the state. The law further pro- 
vides that any boy who is lawfully employed in any occupa- 
tion for a livelihood is exempted from this requirement unless 
he volunteers. 

Critics of the bill advanced arguments against this last pro- 
vision on the ground that it introduces a miserable class dis- 
tinction in a public school system, for it associates military 
affairs with the people of leisure and means and per- 
petuates the idea that military life is not the business of a 
wage earner. Acting on the force of such arguments the 
legislature amended the law in the spring of 1917 in such 
a way as to include all boys of the said ages to be drafted for 
the service of the state. The amendment provides that the 
requirement for technical military training may be met in 
part, in the discretion of the Military Training Commission, 
" by such vocational training or vocational experience as will, 
in the opinion of the Commission, specifically prepare boys 
of the ages named for service useful to the state, in the main- 
tenance of defense, in the promotion of public safety, in the 
conservation and development of the state's resources, or in 
the construction and maintenance of public improvement." 

The significant point of this amendment is that it provides 
for the defensive training of the soldier on the one hand and 
encourages the vocational training of the boys on the other. 
For the purpose of investigating and organizing the military 
equivalent services, a special Bureau of Vocational Training 
was established. It has been reported that the Commission is 
doing its best to carry out the provisions of the law both in 
letter and in spirit. 

2. Kinds of military instruction in different school systems: 
So much for the school laws enacted by the state legislatures 
or special actions taken by the local school boards, now let 
us turn oUr attention to the actual practices of military train- 
ing which have been in vogue for sometime in some places. 

The kind of military training which narrows itself down to 
a few drills a week with or without arms has been very 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 51 

common wherever such training is given. As an illustration, 
the training program for the high school cadets of Salt Lake 
City may be worth noticing. 

" Three drills are given per week. The drills are fifty min- 
utes long, from 2 :40 to 3 :30 p. m. 

" The school year, October first to May thirtieth, is divided 
into three periods. 

" First Period, October first to November thirtieth. 

" First year boys — School of the soldier, school of the 
squad ; manual of arms, port and right shoulder, only. 

" Ten minutes of each drill period is devoted to double 
timing and calisthenics with or without arms. 

" Second year boys — School of the soldier, school of the 
squad, school of the company; manual of arms; competition 
in manual; some extended order. 

" Second Period — December first to February twenty-eight. 

" First year boys — Manual of arms ; school of the squad 
and company ; care of and cleaning rifle ; calisthenics with and 
without arms. 

"Second year boys — Review of first period; pointing and 
aiming drills ; extended order. 

" During this period lectures are delivered to all organiza- 
tions on the following subjects: First aid; outline of an 
army ; military preparedness in the United States. 

" Third Period — March first to May thirtieth. 

" First month — Target practice ; school of the company and 
battalion, close order ; school of the company ; extended order ; 
compulsory combat exercises. 

" Second and third months — Battalion parade and review ; 
combat exercises, battalion ; target practices ; Governor's 
review." 

Among the many schemes of providing a system of broad 
military training for the school youths the so-called "Wyoming 
Plan " has been widely hearlded by newspapers and highly 
recommended by educators and military experts for its adop- 
tion elsewhere. The plan was originated in 1911 under the 
direction of Lieutenant E. Z. Steever at Cheyenne. The main 
feature of the plan is that it offers military training in the 
form of games. It takes the old lockstep, routine work out 
of military instruction and introduces into it the principle of 
competition, co-operation and play based on the natural tastes 
and instincts of adolescent youth. It utilizes competitive in- 
stinct without narrowing competition to the success or failure 
of any single individual. It develops the spirit of co-operation 
with ample opportunities for the development of initiative 



52 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

and individuality. It emphasizes the elements of play, yet the 
serious side of the training is never lost sight of. The whole 
system is so unique in its nature and so practical in its method 
that it may not be out of place here to describe some of its 
essential points in detail. 

Training not Compulsory — Military training in Wyoming 
high schools is not compulsory. Indeed, Lieutenant E. Z. 
Steever does not believe that compulsion is necessary,. because 
the fascinating nature of the military games will not fail 
to secure a large enrollment. The only regulation for this 
elective course is that, once a boy has selected his course for 
the year, he must finish it within that period. 

There is no other expense for the pupil, except the pur- 
chase of a uniform. The State of Wyoming has appropriated 
a sufficiently large sum to assist the pupils in purchasing the 
uniforms at almost half of the original price. Upon receiving 
such state aid, the recipient must sign a certificate agreeing 
that he will refrain from the use of tobacco in any form. 

System of Training — The aim of Wyoming system of mili- 
tary training is not to make soldiers out of school boys, 
but to prepare them in such a way as to enable them to become 
the worthy defenders of the nation when they reach man- 
hood. For this reason great emphasis has been laid upon 
physical development and skill in military activities, such 
as wall-scaling, field firing, etc., and the ordinary routine drills 
have been reduced to the minimum. Beside the regular prac- 
tice of the different competition units, instruction in sanitation, 
cooking, woodcraft, simple field engineering, scouting, patrol- 
ling, etc., is also given. 

Organization of Competition Units — According to the 
Wyoming plan, all cadets are organized into competition units. 
These are, wall-scaling, infantry drill, troop leadership, scholar- 
ship, field-firing, and other camp and field activities. In con- 
trast to the common practice of ordinary school foot-ball or 
baseball teams, of the selected few of the entire student 
body, the Wyoming plan of organizing these competition 
units provides an opportunity for the participation of all who 
elect the course ; each unit being made up of an equal num- 
ber of strong, medium, and weak boys. Take the instance 
of wall-scaling. The last two men over the wall must be 
the strongest for they have to help the others over and go 
over themselves unaided. But no unit is composed of cadets 
who are all of the " Last-man-over " type. Suppose there 
are ten competition wall-scaling squads in the school, the 
twenty strongest students are selected from the cadets at large 
and only two of them are distributed to each squad. In the 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 53 

same way the next twenty strongest are selected and dis- 
tributed, and so on down to the twenty of the weakest. When 
the squad wins, everybody in the squad receives the same 
kind of reward and shares the glory of victory with equal 
pride and honor. 

In case of inter-school competition no school is allowed to 
group its strongest men in one squad and let this little group 
be the heroes of the day. Each school is required to send 
a list of all its cadets classified according to their ability to 
the office of the State Superintendent, and the latter assigns 
the cadets to different squads in accordance with the prin- 
ciple just mentioned. In case several squads are formed in 
one school, then they can compete among themselves. The 
winning squad of this intra-school competition will have the 
honor of representing the school in the big inter-school 
tournament. 

It is quite obvious that the distinctive feature of the plan 
does not altogether lie in the system of military games, but 
in the way the games are played. It allows the weak as well 
as the strong to play the game and they all have an equal 
chance to win. The whole system of competition does not 
consist of marching one squad against the other as in ordinary 
school athletics, but it encourages one squad to excel the other 
in team work and accomplishment. One cadet's gain is not 
another's loss ; when one unit wins, some other one does not 
go down in defeat. Yet each game requires all the energy, 
ability, skill, team-play and dogged determination of all the 
participants in order to score a victory. It was reported that 
once a cadet leader of a scholarship unit visited the other 
members of the unit night after night for the purpose of 
coaching them, and that finally his unit won the glory of an 
unqualified success. Such spirit of loyalty to the group, co- 
operation among one's associates, and indomitable will to excel 
others in achievement, are an inspiring illustration of the value 
of such a system. 

Another interesting character in the organization of com- 
petition units is that the cadet leaders are selected by the 
vote of the older cadets at the beginning of each year. The 
leaders are chosen on the basis of ability and genuine leader- 
ship rather than on that of popularity. In case of the election 
of a popular but inefficient leader, the mistake will be effec- 
tively punished by the failure of the unit. The trust in real 
leadership is thus developed coincidentally with the spirit of 
self-subordination to the will of the group. This kind of civil 
training is not possible in any other military organization. 



54 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

II. Military Drill versus Board Physical Education of 
Semi-Military Character 

In the last section I have tried to make the distinction 
between military drill on the one hand and the broad military- 
training on the other. Now we should like to ask a very- 
fundamental question : Which one of the two possesses a 
greater value both from military and educational points of 
view ? John Milton has denned " a complete and generous 
education as that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, 
and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of 
peace and war." What kind of military training will best 
accomplish this educational aim is the question we must care- 
fully consider. 

In answering this fundamental question the writer is pre- 
pared to say very definitely that he is opposed to the introduc- 
tion of military training in the public schools if such training 
means only a few perfunctory drills a week. This view seems 
to have also been held by the majority of educators in this 
country who have made a careful study of the problem. The 
reasons for this view may be briefly stated as follows : 

In the first place, mere military drill does not prepare a 
youth to become an efficient soldier. Through the ordinary 
military drill we may teach the boys to wear their uniforms 
properly, to keep their shoes shined, to march with 30 inch 
steps and with a rate of 120 steps per minute, to make proper 
movements when the orders of " Squad Right " and " Squad 
Left " are given, and to attain a fair degree of proficiency 
in the manual of arms. But none of these things are the 
essential part of a soldier's training. They are fragmentary 
and elementary in nature. They formed the most important 
part in the historic military drill practice, but have no func- 
tional significance in the modern war as now waged on the 
battlefields of Europe. Take, for example, the training in 
the manual of arms. How much practical worth has the 
proper execution of the " Right Shoulder Arms " or " Left 
Shoulder Arms " to a soldier when the battle is on ? How 
much value has the training in the different classes of firing 
for the defense of a trench system when machine guns, 
grenades and other horrible weapons of war have to be used 
to meet the on-rushing foe ? Take another instance, the matter 
of marching. Of what use is the training in the close-order 
formation when reinforcements have to be brought up to the 
threatening point through the communication trenches or in 
the dark? We can, indeed, be sure that all these kinds of 
training have very little military value in trench warfare, or 
in open field battle, or in the hand-to-hand struggle. At the 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 55 

Winnie of the European War, it was reported that most 
of he Belg a who answered the call of their country had 
no mmtary training whatsoever before they were sent to the 
"S who wLld say that they have not made the most 
heroic defense at the most tragic hour? 

However I do not want myself to be misunderstood on this 
ooint Is saving that the simple military drill is absolutely 
Sess and futile from the standpoint of military efficiency. 
I do noffoi a moment deny the necessity of such drill for 
the prel minary training of a soldier. It gives discipline. It 

also be learned very rapidly and readily. The proficiency 
fthemanualof arms and marching movements can be 
acquired by any person with normal intelligence wihm a short 
STt? substantiate my contention I may relate a ewe 
of a verv recent date. On the 1918 anniversary of the battle 
of ISng on twenty Chicago high schools were represented 
bv over 3 200 members of their military training classes in a 
simple milftary marching competition. Not a. single company 
ST drilled more than four periods with their rifles and the 
maximum time drilled by the oldest company .both with and 
without arms, was less than twenty ^V**™^ 
oorted "Every lithe, young body was erect, every neaa 
St to the^ront; every rifle carried just so; every fort 
in step- every boyish heart set on putting over a win for his 
company Ind his school." (Maj. E. Z. Steever and Ma] J. 
L Frink-The Cadet Manual, p. xii.) Whatever other value 
military drill may have, its introduction into the public school 
curriculum can not be defended on military ground. 

In the second place, a few military drills a week do not 
give sufficient discipline so as to instil the habits of obedience 
fn an adolescent youth. Captain L. C. Andrews has stated 
hat the precise movements of the manual of arms and close- 
order formation are not for the purpose of learning how to 
let about on the battlefield-they will hardly be used at ail- 
but they are for the object of training the mind and body of 
the soldier into habits of precise unhesitating obedience to 
the will of the leader. The drill-master commands Right 
front into line," not because he wants his men in line espe- 
cially but for the purpose of exercising them in an exact per- 
formance of that particular movement, of habituating them to 



56 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

move exactly as he has ordered them. So the chief object of 
the simple drill is to make the obedience to command implicit 
and automatic. When this object is effectively accomplished, 
the difficulty in controlling the military units even under the 
stress of battle will be reduced to the minimum. This is a 
very brilliant explanation of the object of the drill. But mili- 
tary discipline is not and can not be maintained through drills 
alone. The habit of obedience can be made automatic only 
after a long process of training. The soldiers in the training 
camps live under military discipline in every waking hour of 
the day and seven days a week. Can the public schools exer- 
cise such military discipline over all the boys who are under 
their care? Obviously not . The schools have no control over 
the boys after the school hours. The most the schools can 
do is to require military discipline throughout the school day. 
But such a policy has not been adopted by any public school 
in this country, as far as my knowledge goes. I would like 
to be convinced that the habits of obedience can be incalculated 
by a few drills per week and by a system of discipline which 
begins and ends with the drill hour. 

Granting that this can be done, but whether or not the 
habit of obedience formed during drill hours can be trans- 
muted into other fields is still a question open for investiga- 
tion. Surely enough the boy learns to obey orders during drill 
hours, if the drill-master is a good disciplinarian. But he 
learns to obey orders of a specific kind and under a specific 
circumstance. Psychologists in recent years have generally 
denied the doctrine of formal discipline and agreed that the 
transference of training in one subject to the learning of 
another is very slight. How much can the specific habits of 
obedience to military commands be transferred ■ into general 
obedience to law and authority is a question which can not 
be answered offhand. The New Jersey Commission on Mili- 
tary Training in High Schools has in its report made a very 
definite statement on this point. Thus it says : " The dis- 
cipline of the schools aims, not at isolated acts of obedience 
under special circumstances, but at the habit of obedience 
to elders and persons in authority. It is a psychological 
fallacy to suppose that obedience to military authority, obedi- 
ence exacted under any peculiar circumstances, may auto- 
matically be translated into the general habit of obedience." 
Even though such a statement does not represent the whole 
truth, it certainly gives us some food for thought. 

Furthermore, military drill as conducted in some public 
schools has failed to maintain strict military discipline even 
during drill hours. There are many reasons for this, but the 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 57 

chief reason is the incompetency of the military instructor. 
Superior knowledge is one of the essential qualities of real 
leadership ; and so of the drill-master. He must know his 
business, if he wants to command the confidence and respect 
of his men. He himself must know every movement and 
its proper execution of the drill before he can give the orders 
correctly and exact unhesitating obedience to them. This is 
too simple a truth to need any proof or illustration. But 
let us ask : How many schools are fortunate enough to secure 
competent men to conduct the military drill? With few ex- 
ceptions city schools having military training have placed the 
responsibility of such instruction in the hands of the physical 
directors. Very few of these directors have proved them- 
selves equal to the new task. They themselves never had 
the proper military training. They themselves even do not 
know exactly how the movements they order are to be exe- 
cuted. How can we expect them to be good disciplinarians ? 
One can not fool adolescent boys. Once they find out 
that the instructor does not possess " the stuff in him," dis- 
cipline is hopless. General Baden-Powell has once said : 
" Unless you have specially good instructors, amateur military 
discipline is apt to spoil the boy for standing the real thing 
when he goes into service." Shall we " drill the schoolboy 
and spoil the soldier?" 

In the third place, mere military drill does not develop a 
boy in physical prowess, alertness and endurance. Practically 
all experts on physical training have come out very strongly 
against military drill as a means of physical development. 
Abundant testimonies on this point can be cited, but I shall 
quote a 'few of the statements made by those whose opinions 
based on practical experiences and pedagogical insight should 
merit our special consideration. 

Dr. Ehler, of the University of Wisconsin, says : 
" Military drill is an enthusiasm-killing, contempt-develop- 
ing treadmill. Preparedness involves, primarily and fundament- 
ally, the possession of vitality, endurance, integrity of struc- 
ture, and function of every organ, alertness, bodily skill, self- 
control, hardihood, courage ; in other words, the fullest de- 
velopment of the physical, mental, and emotional powers, the 
result of real physical education. Let us not confound drill 
with training, nor substitute military drill for physical edu- 
cation." 

Dr. D. A. Sargent, of Harvard University is strongly 
opposed to military training and states his opposition clearly 
and forcibly in the following words : 

" Our principal objection to military drill as a physical 



58 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

exercise is that it does not to any extent meet the physiological 
demands of the body. In other words, it is not of sufficient 
interest as a means of physical development to arouse any 
moral earnestness and enthusiasm on the part of the boys. 
The exercise of the manual is not performed with sufficient 
force and rapidity to insure the energetic contraction of the 
muscles employed. It is essentially a one-sided exercise, bring- 
ing into excessive action the elevators of the right scapula, 
the deltoid, biceps, flexors of the forearm, wrist, and fingers 
of the right side ; while the other muscles, excepting the legs 
on parade days, do not get sufficient employment to keep in 
good condition. It does not increase the respiration and 
quicken the circulation to a sufficient extent to secure the 
constitutional benefits that should accrue from exercise." 

For those who think that the course of military drill has 
not been fairly represented by the experts of physical educa- 
tion, the opinion of Captain H. J. Koehler, instructor of 
physical training, West Point Military Academy, is specially 
noteworthy. Thus he says : 

" The use of the musket as a means of physical develop- 
ment for any one, be he man or boy, is more than worthless. 
It is, in my opinion, positively injurious. I deny absolutely 
that military drill contains one worthy feature which can 
not be duplicated in every well-regulated gymnasium in the 
country to-day. A thorough physical training develops all 
the necessary soldierly qualities to the greatest degrees and it 
does it without injury. If we have athletes, we shall never be 
without soldiers." 

Experiments have been made in a public school of London, 
England, for the purpose of determining the relative value of 
physical education and military drill, and the results are 
decidedly in favor of the former. Thus Dr. W. E. Darby, 
of London, says: 

" It (physical training) should not be military, and for the 
following among other reasons: Because as a method of 
physical training military drill is both inadequate and injuri- 
ous. Experiments, which were conducted in a public school, 
with a view to ascertain the relative value of gymnastics and 
of mere drill, showed that the average results yielded by the 
former were more than three times as great as those yielded 
by drill alone. Relatively, therefore, this method of physical 
culture is inferior. . . ." 

Not only has military drill been condemned as a means of 
physical training, but it has also been shown as being actually 
harmful in its effects on boys who are too young to handle 
the real weapons and undergo the rigors of adequate instruc- 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 59 

tion. Sir William Ailkin, professor of pathology in the army 
medical school of England once said : 

" Boys given military training at 18 make soldiers who are 
less robust and efficient than men with whom this training 
was deferred a few years, remaining in civil life until after 
their bones, heart, lungs, liver, etc., were more matured and 
developed. Recruits at 18 show physical immaturity which 
results only too frequently in their ending in the hospital or 
being discharged as invalids. Recruits of 18 require two 
years' special training." 

Finally, military drill in the public schools has been defended 
as a means of teaching patriotism. Now does it or does it 
not? To my mind, true patriotism can only follow the intelli- 
gent appreciation of national and community life, and of 
one's duty to the welfare of the group. To think that the 
simple military drill will cultivate in a boy a virile spirit, 
an ability and willingness to endure hardships, and a keener 
sense of duty to serve the community, the state, and the nation 
is nothing short of a great pedagogical illusion. The love of 
country and the esprit de corps can never be aroused by 
having imitation military drills with broomsticks for rifles, 
and school basements or small gymnasium floors for the drill 
grounds. If military training has any contribution towards 
the development of one's sense of responsibility, duty, and self- 
sacrifice, it must be real, it must be broad in scope and prac- 
tical in nature. The technical drill which is the smallest and 
the least valuable part of a soldier's preparation can never 
accomplish this object. 

In the above few pages I have endeavored to show that 
military drill alone has no great value both from the military 
and educational points of view. It can not be the means of 
character building and physical development. What we need 
to-day is not the " Shoulder arms " and " Forward march " 
sort of drill in the public schools, but a broad program of 
physical education of semi-military character for all the youths 
of the land, so as to develop in them the physical qualities 
of health, vigor and endurance, the mental qualities of acumen, 
control and alertness, and the moral qualities of courage, co- 
operation and self-sacrifice, in the widest and best sense. All 
these qualities are at the foundation of good citizenship as 
well as of practical soldiery. Schools can not and should 
not be expected to perform the task of training soldiers in 
the strict military sense. But schools can and should train 
the youths in a broad and general way so as to make them 
physically, morally and mentally fit for fighting the battles 
of the nation when their service is needed. This task can 



60 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

be accomplished far more effectively by a well-devised system 
of vigorous physical training under discipline than by mili- 
tary drill. 

Before we discuss the content of such broad program of 
physical education in the light of its practical value as a 
soldier's preparation and of its adaptability as a part of the 
public school curriculum, we may first direct our attention 
to the means and methods by which the European nations 
have been training their school youths under military age. 

"Military instruction, of the exact nature and to the same 
extent as that given to soldiers, is not found in the schools 
of any country of Europe except the special military schools." 
In those countries where the system of universal military 
service exists the public schools often include military gym- 
nastics in the course of physical education. But in no case 
have they ever attempted to substitute military drill for the 
well-established systems of physical training. We may take 
Germany, France and Switzerland for our illustration. (74). 

Germany — In Germany military drill was introduced into 
the city schools of Prussia as early as the beginning of the 
nineteenth century. But shortly after the Napoleonic wars, 
a thorough system of military preparedness for all males was 
adopted, and the matter of military training in schools was 
made no longer necessary. It was not until the outbreak of 
the European war that an emergency measure was undertaken 
by the schools to prepare the youths approaching the military 
age for their early service in the army. In 1914 a joint decree 
was issued by the Prussian ministries of war, ecclesiastical 
and educational affairs, and the interior, requiring that all boys 
over 16 years of age, not yet in active service, should receive 
preparatory military training for the duration of the war. In 
response to this decree many schools have introduced military 
instruction in connection with gymnastics as a part of the 
prescribed program. The time allotted to this work averages 
two hours a week. 

Before the war, the German school youths could obtain 
military instruction only from voluntary organizations which 
have been in existence outside of the school. Among these 
organizations the federation of Jungendwehren (juvenile mili- 
tary organizations) is the best known. The chief purpose of 
this organization is to train the boys in long marches, field 
exercises, and maneuvers, as well as exercises in the activities 
of auxiliary corps of the army. It does not limit its member- 
ship to the school boys, but the great majority of its members 
are the pupils of various schools. 

Next to Jugendwehren the organization of Pfadfinder (path- 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 61 

finder) has had a very rapid growth in Germany. In 1912 
the federation of pathfinders had a membership of 24,000, 
with 600 field masters. The training program of this organi- 
zation is essentially the same as that of the Boy Scout. 

Jungdeutschland (Young Germany) is another organization 
which tends to prepare boys of school age for military duty 
by means of exercises of a direct military character. It was 
organized by General Field Marshal von der Goltz in 1911, 
and its activities comprise drills, gymnastics, bicycling, march- 
ing, field exercises, patrolling, small feats of military engi- 
neering, etc. 

France — Since the disastrous defeat of 1870 France has 
paid special attention to the preparation of her youth for 
military service. As early as 1880 physical training including 
military drill was made obligatory in all public schools. 

In the primary schools, the prescibed programs of military 
instruction are as follows : 

" Middle division — Exercises in marching, alignments, for- 
mation of squads, etc. Preparation for military service. 

" Higher division. — School of the soldiers without arms. 
Principals of the several steps. Alignments, marches, counter- 
marches, and halts. Changing the direction." 

In higher elementary schools, the " preparatory military 
exercises " consisting of advanced drills and maneuvers are 
added to regular gymnastics. 

However, this system of military training as a component 
part of the prescribed course of physical education has not 
been approved by the leading educators in France, although 
it has been recognized as preparatory training for military 
service. Thus one authority says : " Military training in- 
volves serious inconveniences with regard to hygiene. It 
implies rigid discipline, which is condemned by true pedagogy. 
Outside of that it produces results that are only partial, lim- 
ited and special." 

Switzerland — Among all the systems of universal military 
service the so-called " Swiss System " has been highly recom- 
mended for its adoption in this country. The essential feature 
of the system is the provision of a short period of actual mili- 
tary training and the requirement of all public schools to give 
" Preparatory Gymnastics." In an Act for the military organ- 
ization of the Swiss Republic, it was required that the cantons 
should provide for a course in calisthenics for young men 
during their attendance in the public schools, and this calis- 
thenic exercise should be administered by instructors trained 
for the work either in the normal schools or in the schools 
for physical training. The law also provides that the Con- 



62 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

federation should encourage all associations and all efforts 
toward the bodily development of its young men from the 
time for their leaving school until incorporated in the army. 

In accordance with the provision of this Act, the preliminary 
military training is conducted in two forms : ( 1 ) compulsory 
preparatory gymnastics for all the boys during the entire legal 
school age; and (2) voluntary cadet corps; such corps for 
drill with arms, corps for drill without arms, and corps for 
target practices, are greatly encouraged by the government 
in various ways. Military training as we find in some school 
systems in this country does not exist in the public schools 
of the Swiss Republic. 

Enough examples have been cited from European countries. 
We may now take a few examples from some of the pro- 
gressive states in this country in this connection. 

New Jersey — Acting on the recommendation of the Com- 
mission on Military Training in High Schools the State 
Legislature passed a very comprehensive law in March, 1917, 
for the establishment of a state system of physical education 
in all the public schools. The general provisions of the law 
are : 

1. A course in physical training shall be established and 
made a part of the courses of instruction in the public schools. 
No pupil can be excused from taking such training except 
those in the Kindergarten. 

2. The time devoted to such training shall aggregate at 
least two and one-half hours in each school week. 

3. Such course shall be adapted to the ages and capabilities 
of the pupils in the several grades and departments and shall 
include the following points: 

a. Exercises, calisthenics, formation drills, instruction in 
personal and community health and safety and in correcting 
and preventing bodily deficiency. 

b. Instruction in the privileges and responsibilities of citi- 
zenship, as they relate to community and national welfare, 
with special reference to developing bodily strength and vigor, 
and producing the highest type of patriotic citizenship. 

c. For female pupils, instruction in domestic hygiene, first 
aid in nursing shall be added. 

4. At the discretion of the state board of education, military 
training may also be included in such course. In case the said 
board decides not to include it, any local school board may 
submit the whole question to referendum vote. 

California — The state legislature enacted a law concerning 
the organization and supervision of courses in physical educa- 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 63 

tion in the elementary, secondary and normal schools of the 
state in May, 1917. The law includes : 

1. The board of education of each county, and city shall 
prescribe suitable courses of physical education for all pupils 
in the day elementary school and the board of high school 
district for all those in the high school. 

2. The aims and purposes of such courses are : (a) "to 
develop organic vigor, provide neutro-muscular training, pro- 
mote bodily and mental poise, correct postural defects, secure 
the more advanced forms of co-ordination, strength and endur- 
ance, and to promote such desirable moral and social qualities 
as appreciation of the value of co-operation, self -subordination 
and obedience to authority, and higher ideals, courage a[nd 
wholesome interest in truly recreational activities; (b) to pro- 
mote a hygienic school and home life, secure scientific super- 
vision of the sanitation of school buildings, playgrounds and 
athletic fields, and the equipment thereof." 

3. A State Supervisor of Physical Education shall be ap- 
pointed by the State Board of Education. He shall exercise 
general supervision over the courses of physical education 
and all the athletic activities in the public schools of the state. 

Maryland — A law enacted very recently requires that all 
public schools must establish and maintain a course of physical 
education and training for pupils of both sexes during the fol- 
lowing minimum periods : (a) in the elementary schools at 
least fifteen minutes in each school day and also at least one 
hour of directed play outside of regular classroom work in 
each school week; and (b) in public high schools at least two 
hours of directed play or athletics for all pupils outside of 
class work in addition to the one hour gymnastic exercises 
in each school week. For the purpose of carrying out this 
provision a State Supervisor was also provided. 

Beside these three states, the General Assemblies of Rhode 
Island and Delaware have also enacted laws with regard to 
this important problem. But they are much less comprehen- 
sive and specific than those just mentioned. 

In addition to these state legislations, a movement is now 
on foot to secure federal legislation for the establishment 
of a universal system of physical education throughout the 
country. It is safe to predict that such national legislation 
will meet the unanimous support of the educators of the nation. 

From all the evidence at hand we may safely say that the 
general tendency in this country is towards the introduction 
of a broad system of physical education into the prescribed 
school curriculum instead of military training in its narrow 
sense. This is the only sensible thing for the schools to do, 



64 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

because they lack the time, the means and the professional 
ability to provide a genuine and real system of military train- 
ing comparable to that given to soldiers. Now we may 
ask : What kind of physical education should we adopt in 
order to achieve the purpose of preparedness? 

Copious literature has been written on this problem in the 
past two or three years, and many valuable suggestions have 
been made. In some places the measures of health examina- 
tion, provision of healthful environment in home and school, 
and instruction in health problems have been included in the 
program of physical education. Broad as this conception of 
physical education is, I wish to suggest the incorporation of 
the program and methods of the Boy Scout in any scheme 
of physical training which may find its place in any school 
system. This is not the place to discuss the Boy Scout pro- 
gram. But from the military and educational points of 
view, we may see what contributions scouting education does 
have to offer. 

In the first place, scouting offers the very best training in 
the military sense to the adolescent youths. Experience 
teaches us that modern military training is an exceedingly 
complex affair. A good soldier must have not only strong 
physique, great endurance, and knowledge of military tactics, 
but also practical ability in doing many things upon which the 
efficiency and success of an army depends. He must know 
how to build roads, put up his tent, and take care of various 
kinds of motor machines. He must know the principles of 
personal hygiene, first aid, and camp sanitation. He must 
know how to take care of himself, such as what to do about 
a blister and how to cook a simple meal. All these and many 
other things are the fundamentals of a soldier's training; and 
these are the very things which the scout program includes. 
As an illustration of this point, the introductory statement 
in the Boy Scouts' Handbook (1917) is very noteworthy. 

" A Scout ! He enjoys a hike through the woods more than 
he does a walk over the city's streets. He can tell North 
or South from the moss that grows on tress and East from 
West by the shadows that trunks and branches cast. When 
matches are forgotten he laughs and proceeds to kindle a 
fire by rubbing two sticks together or by strikng steel on 
flint. The fire once started, what a breakfast, dinner, or 
supper he can prepare out there in the open! Does he enjoy 
the meal? Just watch him and compare his appetite with 
that of a boy who lounges at a lunch counter in a crowded 
city. 

" A Scout does not run away or call for help when an acci- 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 65 

dent occurs. He devotes all his strength and energy to assist- 
ing those who are in need. If a person has been cut he uses 
his first aid knowledge in stopping the flow of blood, gently 
and carefully binds up the wound, then, if necessary, he seeks 
other assistance. If a person has been burned his knowledge 
tells him how to alleviate the suffering. If any one should 
be dragged from the water unconscious, a Scout at once sets 
to work to restore respiration and circulation. He knows 
that not a minute can be lost. 

" A Scout can talk to a brother Scout without making a 
sound by signaling with flags ; or by tapping on a log he can 
imitate the click of a telegraph key, and in either manner 
he can spell out words and sentences. 

" A Scout can tie a knot that will hold, he can climb a tree 
the ascent of which seems impossible to others, he can swim 
a river, he can patch a tent, he can mend a tear in his trousers, 
he can tell you what weeds are poisonous and what are not, 
he can sight nut-bearing trees from a distance ; if living near 
ocean or lake he can reef a sail and take his trick at the wheel, 
and if near any body of water at all he can pull an oar or 
use paddles and sculls ; in the woods he knows the names of 
birds and animals; in the water he tells you the different 
varieties of fish." 

In the second place, scouting education offers the very best 
means of character building. Dr. James E. Russell, in com- 
menting on scouting education, once said : "As a teacher, I 
take my hat off to Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the genius who 
in a decade has done more to vitalize the methods of character 
training than all the schoolmen in this country have done 
since the Pilgrims landed on the New England coast." In 
the public schools we teach the precepts and neglect the 
practice. We preach the virtues but lay no emphasis upon 
participation. We know fully well that mere instruction is 
ineffective in character building, yet our indolence has always 
made us follow the line of least resistance. But scouting 
education just reverses our common practice. It teaches the 
boy to translate the Golden Rule into concrete deeds and thus 
enables him to incorporate it into the fabric of his moral life. 
On becoming a tenderfoot every boy must take the scout oath ; 
" On my honor, I will do my best ( 1 ) to do my duty to God 
and my country and to obey the scout law; (2) to help other 
people at all times; (3) to keep myself physically strong, 
mentally awake, and morally straight." This simple oath has 
a very significant meaning to the boy. It means the solemnity 
of the occasion on becoming a scout. It means that he must 
do something to fulfill his duty. This oath is further rein- 



66 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

forced by the twelve commandments stated in positive terms. 
The scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, 
kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. 
Each one of these laws sounds a bit grandiloquent, but it is 
illustrated by the simplest and most concrete duties of a boy's 
life. The scout's duty is to do a good turn daily, but he does 
it on his own initiative and of his own free will. In con- 
trast to the military discipline, which is always mechanical 
and autocratic, the scouting program seems to be so nicely 
adjusted and so evenly balanced as to inculcate the spirit of 
self-subordination and the habits of obedience on the one hand 
and to provide ample opportunities for the development of 
originality and leadership on the other. 

In the third place, the means and methods of scouting edu- 
cation appeal to the boy's interest and are adapted to the 
boy's nature. The boy in his early teens is essentially a 
savage. He has an abundance of energy and a great variety 
of interest. He is a great explorer. He loves adventure. 
He seeks opportunities to give expressions to his inner crav- 
ings and instinctive desires. School is exceedingly irksome 
to him, because pedagogues are often short-sighted and pin- 
headed and do not know how to supply his psychic needs. 
From this psychological point of view we find the secret of 
success of the Boy Scout movement. It gives the boy a chance 
to make use of all his powers, physical, mental, and moral. 
It directs his interests into the right channel and to the right 
ends. It makes him self-reliant yet obedient, courageous yet 
restrained, virile yet courteous, aggressive yet always respect- 
ful for the right of others. 

Most of the scouting activities are in a form of play, and 
most of the play is to be had out of doors. There the scout 
may play the part of an Indian, or a frontiersman, or a 
cowboy, to work off his wild spirit in the most wholesome 
manner. There he learns about the stars, the moon, and the 
sun, about the frost, snow, rain, clouds and winds, about 
the trees, flowers, birds, and insects. There he explores the 
country and finds out every path and by-path. There he 
learns to use properly his eyes, ears, nose, and senses of taste 
and touch. There he is taught to deal with various accidents 
— ice-breaking, electric shocks, drowning, run-away carriages, 
and so on. There he must prove that he can make a' fire 
with or without matches, cook a hunter's stew, skin and cook 
a rabbit, or pluck and cook a bird. There he acquires the 
knowledge of scores of other activities which are susceptible 
of direct and immediate application to everyday life. The best 
thing about this whole scheme of training is that " every task 



MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 67 

in scouting is a man's job cut down to a boy's size." It appeals 
to the boy's interest because he wants to " behave like a kid, 
but be treated like a man." If the interest of the children 
should be the first consideration of modern education, the 
means and methods of scouting seem to be well-nigh pedagog- 
ically perfect in every respect. 

From the standpoint of preliminary military training and 
sound pedagogy I have praised the scouting program and 
method and urged the incorporation of scouting activities into 
the school curriculum. But with regard to the entire system 
of broad physical training the following general outline may 
be offered. 

1. The school day must be greatly lengthened. Seven or 
eight hours a day and six days a week should be a possibility. 

2. For the children between 6 and 12 years of age, at least 
one-third of the school day should be given to physical exer- 
cise and organized play. 

3. For the children between 12 and 16 years of age the 
program and method of the Boy Scout should be adopted. 
The physical director should be the scout master, and every 
boy should be made a " good scout." At least from 15 to 
18 hours a week should be given to the activities of scout- 
craft. Two whole afternoons a week (perhaps to include 
evenings too), say Wednesdays and Saturdays, should be 
made available for long hikes, trips to swimming places, etc. 
Week-end camping may also be possible, 

4. For the boys between 16 and 18 s years of age, the 
Wyoming system of military training may also be included 
in the program in addition to those activities just mentioned. 
Summer camps covering a period from four to six weeks 
should be established at the expense of the State, and their 
attendance should be made obligatory to all boys. In these 
camps intensive military training should be given and strict 
military discipline should be maintaned. In this connection 
the program carried out by the Military Training Commission 
of New York State last summer should be worthy of adoption. 

In conclusion, I may say that (a) the kind of military drill 
which we find in some school systems in this country has no 
place in the public school curriculum. It is a sheer waste of 
time, and has no value, either military or educational, (b) 
A genuine system of military instruction, of the exact nature 
and to the same extent as that given to the soldiers, can not be 
provided by the school for lack of time, means, and profes- 
sional ability. It has not been found in the public schools of 
any country in Europe, (c) A broad program of physical edu- 
cation of semi-military character should be adopted by all the 



68 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THF WAR 

schools in the country. It may necessitate the reorganization 
of the systems of school administration and school instruction 
to some extent. But we should spare no effort in putting 
it into practice, if it is workable. " Better citizenship " is the 
educational slogan of to-day ; and a good citizen can never 
fail to be a good soldier. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL 
SUBJECTS 

In my endeavor of collecting data concerning the teaching 
of the war in connection with the school subjects I have sent 
out 400 copies of the following questionnaire to the teachers 
of the elementary and high schools in fifty large cities through 
the cooperation of the superintendents. The question reads as 
follows : 

" Do you teach the war in connection with your subject or 
have you modified the instruction in it in any way on account 
of the war, and if so, just how? Kindly state the grade of 
your class and the most used outside aids in the way of texts, 
special exercises, etc. How do your pupils react to this work 
and what is your own opinion of it?" 

At the time of this writing over two hundred answers have 
been received. They have come from more than forty cities 
with 25,000 population or more and covered practically all 
the subjects in the ordinary school curriculum, such as history, 
geography, civics, English, hygiene, drawing, arithmetic, etc. 
Although the authors of these answers represent a very 
selected group of teachers in the country, yet this fact does 
not in any way affect our discussion that is to follow, because 
we are not primarily interested in the statistical aspect of the 
question. Indeed, the contents and methods of instruction 
employed by the teachers in the readjustment of their work 
on account of the war are so fragmentary and diverse in 
character that they defy any attempt of systematic presenta- 
tion. What I propose to do in this chapter is to discuss in 
general terms the teaching of some school subjects in con- 
nection with the war with a few illustrations drawn from the 
material thus collected. 

History 
Among all the school subjects history lends itself most 
readily to the teaching of the war. Judging by the returns 
of my questionnaire it is' also the subject whose instruction 
has been greatly modified with regard both to its content and 
method since America's entrance into the war. Out of all the 
answers received nearly sixty-five per cent have come from 
the history teachers. Practically all of them have been teach- 

69 



70 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

ing the war in connection with their regular class work. Some 
have drawn comparisons between the past and the present as 
far as the subject-matter permits. Some have spent one 
period a week or fifteen minutes every day in the history class 
exclusively for the teaching of the war events. Still others 
have devoted most of the history periods to the study of the 
war problems and noted the events of the past with only a 
hasty and cursory consideration. I shall introduce the dis- 
cussion of this subject by giving a few typical examples 
to illustrate the extent to which the modification of history 
instruction has been affected. 

Thus one teacher writes: 

" Since the outbreak of the war my aim in teaching 
general history in the seventh and eighth grades has been 
to instill American spirit and ideals into the pupils, the 
majority of whom, if not foreign born themselves, are 
the children of foreigners. I have tried not only to teach 
these children, but through them, also reach their parents 
and neighbors. With this in mind we have organized 
" Paul Revere Societies," each member pledging himself 
to carry the message to as many people as he can reach 
each day. 

"As each day's lesson includes a study of current 
events, assignments frequently include articles in the 
daily newspapers. The Liberty Loan, Thrift Stamps, 
Conservation of Food, War Gardens, Red Cross Work, 
all are subjects for attention." 

Another teacher writes : 

" The war is not being taught in a formal way in my 
classes, that is, it is not made a part of the course, nor 
is it a considerable part of the recitation, nor are students 
held responsible for a knowledge of it. Yet scarcely a 
day goes by in which some allusion is not made in one or 
more of my ancient history classes to the great war, gen- 
erally in the way of a comparison of ancient times with 
the present. Excellent opportunities arise for comparing 
military affairs of ancient times with those of the present. 
This is of course not important from the standpoint of 
teaching history but is a way of modernizing ancient his- 
tory which is always popular among young people. It is 
a part of history teaching, I 'believe, to show that this 
present struggle between autocracy and democracy is a 
repetition of what has already happened many times in 
the past, that it is not the first struggle that has been 
brought about as a result of land hunger and a deliberate 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 71 

attempt of a people to thrust their civilization upon an- 
other unwilling people . . . Great war constiutes an 
excellent supplementary material for my classes." 

The above examples show clearly the general tendency of 
history teaching in the public schools. Now let us turn our 
attention to some of the specific tasks which the history teach- 
ers should be expected to perform when the great world his- 
tory is in the making. 

In the first place, history teachers should teach the truth 
It is a commonplace truism that history must stand for truth 
if it stands for anything. But this commonplace truism can 
never be over-emphasized at the time of national crisis when 
the slight distortion of truth is often considered as an ex- 
pediency of patriotic duty. The temptation of exaggerating 
a nation's success and achievements and overlooking its weak- 
ness and shortcomings is very great. The danger of fostering 
in children an unwholesome idea of national egoism must be 
recognized and guarded against. Never was there a greater 
opportunity for the teachers to inculcate in their pupils the 
habit of distinguishing fact from opinion, conviction from in- 
ference, truth from falsehood, than in the teaching of the 
war. Never was there a greater need for history writers and 
teachers who can " see the thing fearlessly and see it whole " 
than at present. Any attempt at hiding the truth on the 
ground of patriotism would be a flagrant violation of profes- 
sional ethics and a recreant to intellectual honesty. 

In the course of my investigation of this problem I came 
across a German text-book entitled " Der Weltkrieg 1914-'15 
in der Volksschule." This little book was designed for in- 
struction in the peoples' schools concerning the causes and the 
events of the great war. The author stated the deeper causes 
of the war in a manner and blamed the enemy nations for 
starting this world struggle. But his deliberate distortion of 
facts is more clearly marked by the account of the battles of 
the war. He started the account with the glorious conquest 
of Belgium and stated the capture of Rheims on September 
4th without fighting because evacuated by the French in 
the face of the overwhelming pressure of the victorious Ger- 
man army. Then the author continued with the description 
of the first battle of the Marne in the following week with a 
very remarkable passage. Thus he says : " Unmolested our 
army crossed the Marne and gave battle to the enemy. A 
violent fighting occurred at the line of Meaux-Vitry on Sep- 
tember 10th. The left wing of the French army tried to out- 
flank our right wing, so the later fell back. The battle line 



72 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

was thus transferred to the Aisne and the city of Rheims fell 
into the hands of the French again." In the resume of the 
great events of the war the author made no mention what- 
soever of the first battle of the Marne. The summary runs 
partly as follows : 

August 26th. The fall of Namur. 

August 27th. The great defeat of the French and Belgian 
army near Namur. 

September 28th. The first attacks on the outer forts of 
Antwerp occurred, 

This characteristic teaching of the war in the German 
schools may sound a little bit humorous. But errors of similar 
nature may perhaps not be entirely absent from the school in- 
struction in this country. It behooves every teacher to care- 
fully guard herself against such temptation. She must not 
be afraid of facing the actual facts and telling the truth. 

In the second place, the war has imposed upon the history 
teachers a new task, that is, to teach the cause of the great 
war. To be sure, this is a subject on which the historians of 
the world have not agreed and will probably not agree until a 
few decades after the war. We can not expect the history 
teachers of the elementary and high schools to pronounce their 
final judgment on such a vast and complex problem, nor can 
we expect them to give to their pupils an extensive view of the 
political history of the world and a knowledge of the history 
of the different governments in Europe, of international law 
and diplomacy, of economical and political philosophy and of 
many other things which lie at the foundation of the present 
struggle. What we expect and what we have reason to insist 
upon is that the teachers should not confine their instruction 
to the subject-matter of the text-book and teach the old matter 
by the old methods. Business can not be as usual in the time 
of war, teaching must likewise be altered to meet the needs of 
the hour. Great emphasis should be placed upon the subjects 
immediately or remotely connected with the war, such as the 
industrial and commercial development of Germany in the past 
forty years, the Franco-Prussian war, the colonial rivalry among 
European nations, the formation of the Triple Alliance and 
of the Triple Entente, the epoch-making movements in the 
Near East, the Mittel-Europa scheme, the assassination of the 
Austrian Archduke, etc. The knowledge of all these and 
many other things is indispensable for the understanding of 
the cause of the war. The authentic facts of every one of 
these are now available. History teachers must familiarize 
themselves with them. Whatever may be the cause which set 
the whole world afire with terrifying suddenness, it is their 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 73 

duty to teach these facts and enable the pupils to form their 
own judgment. 

In the third place, the war has created a demand for in- 
struction in national patriotism, and this demand the teachers 
of history are in a unique position to meet. We have had 
newspaper accounts of the " morning hate lessons " of the 
Germans, and we have heard so much about the story of a 
class of German children, who, in responding to the query 
what country they hated most, replied, "England." This kind 
of jingoistic patriotism has no place in our school instruction. 
What I wish to suggest here is that the detailed story of 
American life and of the development of American ideals 
and institutions should be emphasized, so that the children may 
understand that the rich heritage of a democratic civilization 
has been won by long struggles in the past, and is therefore 
worthy of preserving and defending. Prof. Walter B. Davi- 
son has recently in an article entitled " The History Teachers' 
Patriotic Opportunity " pointed out the chief defects of 
present history teaching, and some of them are (1) lack of 
appreciation of history as the throbbing record of the thoughts 
and feelings of people, rather than a mere chronological out- 
line of facts, dates and empty names; (2) too much depend- 
ence on text-books; (3) Text-books over-emphasized political 
phases of life to the neglect of other very important aspects 
of the real life of the people; and (4) text-books neglected the 
westward movement. (27). If these are the defects of history 
teaching, then it is quite clear that the way to remedy them is 
to make the history of American life in all its past phases, 
such as the life of the colonists, the struggle between the white 
men and the Indians, the life of the western cowboy, etc., 
the chief material for class instruction, so the children can 
see and understand and can re-live " the struggles, the sor- 
rows, the hardships, the dangers, defeats and mistakes, the 
joys, the victories and the works of achievements out of 
which the present has come." This is particularly important 
because the large number of children of foreign birth or 
parentage in many cities may thus be Americanized and made 
to feel that their unquestionable allegiance is due to the coun- 
try of their adoption. When the history of a nation is taught 
in such vivid and picture-making detail, it will not fail to pro- 
duce a generation of patriots who will love in one, think in 
one, and act in one in the common cause and for the common 
good. 

By way of practical suggestion the curriculum and method 
of a history course followed in the Philadelphia public schools 
can be recommended for general acceptance. The program 



74 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

covers the entire eight grades of the elementary school. The 
instruction runs through three cycles. The first cycle in- 
cludes grades one and two, and takes up stories of Indian 
life and American holidays and festivals. The second cycle 
includes grades three, four and five, beginning with hero 
stories of legend and history, stories of great explorers, stories 
of local history and an informal survey of American history 
through biography. The third cycle includes grades six to 
eight beginning with a general account of ancient and 
mediaeval life and the age of discovery. This is followed 
by the history of America down to 1815, and in the eight 
grade the century from 1815 to 1917 is treated. 

It is to be noticed that in the lower grades, emphasis is 
placed upon the biographic aspect of American history. The 
biographies of men and women who have served their country 
in both times of war and peace by devoting their energy, 
talents, time, fortune, and even life to the public welfare 
have been selected and studied. This plan is pedagogically 
sound because it has made the moral aim of teaching history 
supreme. As President Hall says : '* The one fact that 
towers above all others in the teens is that nature then sud- 
denly endows youth with about all of her most precious gifts 
and gives us our psychic capital of heredity for life. This 
donation comes like a spring freshet that, if its floods are 
stored, irrigates every crop the soul can bear and brings all 
to harvest, but if not, speedily passes away leaving only 
gullies, canons, and desert wastes behind, so that life is arid, 
desiccated and not fertilized." The pictures and tales of 
heroism, courage, determination, and unselfish devotion to 
duty of the makers of American history will make an indelible 
impression upon the minds of the young, will awaken the 
moral stuff of their soul, and will arouse their spirit of self- 
forgetfulness, and desire for service. 

In the higher grades narrative history is in order. The pro- 
gram places the emphasis upon the development of democratic 
ideals and institutions as a result of long centuries of stress 
and struggle. The stories concerning the organization of the 
United States, the attainment of national unity, the abolition 
of slavery, the extention of franchise, the provision of free 
public education, etc., can be told with a fresh interest and 
a new meaning at the time when the conflict between auto- 
cracy and democracy is at its maximum height. The knowl- 
edge of the past struggle will beget a genuine appreciation of 
the present heritage, and the appreciation of the present heri- 
tage will inevitably produce an intelligent patriotism. Con- 
sidering the plan of the whole course, it certainly represents 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 75 

a high degree of pedagogical insight and a significant endeavor 
of meeting the present needs. Those school systems which are 
still having difficulties in planning a new course of history 
study in the elementary schools shall find many valuable sug- 
gestions in this Philadelphia program. 

In the fourth place, the war has made the study of the 
history of other nations more important than ever before. 
It becomes more important, because the understanding of other 
peoples has become more necessary in order to cultivate the 
international spirit in distinction from the narrow and pro- 
vincial kind of patriotism. The ideals of nationalism and 
internationalism are not antagonistic but are really comple- 
mentary to each other. The cultivation of international spirit 
does not mean " less loyalty to one's own nationality, but 
more sympathetic understanding of nationalities and national 
ideals different from one's own, combined with a recognition 
of the fundamental interests, material and spiritual, which 
unite them to each other." The more one understands 
the ideas and ideals of other peoples, the better one 
can appreciate the civilization of one's own country. America 
has taken arms in the defense of an international order against 
the Prussian creed of national egoism. So it seems quite 
imperative for the American youth to study the history of 
other nations in order that he may appreciate the great 
cosmopolitan truth — " above nations is humanity " — which 
lies at the foundation of modern society and of community 
of nations. 

Finally, we must not forget that the war events have given 
the history teachers an unprecedented opportunity to modern- 
ize and vitalize their instruction in those subjects which are 
often dull and uninteresting to an average child. There is 
a veritable host of material connected with the war, which 
history illuminates and which illuminates history. The dead 
antiquarianism of the historic items in the ordinary school 
text can be reduced to the minimum if the connection with 
the present is made. Take for instance, the methods and 
agencies of destruction employed in the present war, as Prof. 
E. M. Violette pointed out, can furnish us with some very 
interesting material for comparison when we approach the 
study of the wars in the past. The aeroplanes and submarines 
have come to play a very important part in modern warfare 
for the first time. New types of explosives and guns have 
been introduced. Various kinds of poisonous gases have been 
used with the most brutal effectiveness. All these and many 
other aspects of modern warfare have proved to be entirely 
different from the wars in the past. " Suppose we should 



76 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

take up this problem in connection with the Punic Wars, the 
campaigns of Caesar, and the Napoleonic wars," said Prof. 
Violette, " we should not only see Hannibal crossing the Alps, 
Caesar pursuing the Gauls, and Napoleon humbling the 
Austrians, but we should become acquainted with the 
methods of making war that were characteristic of these men, 
and would thus get a new view of the times in which they 
lived. Furthermore, if some sort of an effort was made to 
study the arms and armament used, not in just one or two 
wars, but in the various wars from the earliest times to the 
present, we would be able to trace the evolution of the science 
of warfare from the simple stone hatchet of primitive times 
to the complicated machinery of destruction used to-day. In 
tracing this evolution we should see how in the long drawn- 
out series of conflict one type of weapon displaces another, 
how a new weapon demands a new means of defense, and 
how this new means of defense produces the necessity of a 
new method of offense. The method of procedure would add 
to our opportunities to discover the principle of continuity 
in history, which is one of the most desired ends to be attained 
in the study of the subject." (112) 

So far I have discussed the subject on general principles. 
Now I wish to mention a few specific methods of connect- 
ing the study of history with the current events. History 
taught as story, lecture, or otherwise, needs a wealth of 
devices. The old cry for the need of carefully planned and 
executed charts that make persons, events, customs, costumes, 
occupations, modes of life, real and objective, graphic curves, 
colored schedules for the presentation of statistics, maps of 
many kinds, and reference books of great abundance, has 
an increasing importance. The history teacher must have all 
the necessary equipment for instruction. But the war has 
imposed upon him a new task, that is, to teach the progres- 
sion of war events from day to day without waiting for them 
to be compiled and crystalized in any book form. In per- 
forming this task he has to rely very largely, beside the ordi- 
nary class-room equipment, upon daily newspapers, magazines 
and periodicals for his material. This means more work 
for him. This means greater preparation over a wide field 
of subjects. There can be no excuse if he fails to do this 
important work with all seriousness of purpose. 

We have often heard that the chief function of history 
teaching is to develop historical-mindedness — that is, to weigh 
the evidences and postpone the judgment — in children. I 
wonder whether that is too much to expect from children 
who are still in their teens. However, some independent work 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 77 

of an elementary nature can be insisted upon them in order 
to develop such a desirable quality. From the Report of the 
British Board of Education (1914-'15) we find that in one 
city school a weekly diary of the war has been made by the 
children in a systematic manner. Clippings from newspapers 
are brought by the children and handed to one of the six 
" sub-editors." Each sub-editor is in charge of a war zone, 
namely, (1) the Western front, (2) Eastern front, (3) Bal- 
kans, (4) the Italian front, (5) war in the air, (6) naval 
affairs. The duty of each sub-editor is to paste his clippings on 
loose sheets and write notes and descriptions of the pictures. 
The sheets are bound together into a volume and suitably de- 
corated. At the end of the week the notes are discussed in the 
class with the teacher. The children borrow the volumes 
in turn and take them home for reading. 

Some thing of similar nature has been introduced in the high 
school at Brazil, Indiana. The plan is somewhat as follows : 
A given class is divided into four or five committees so that 
each pupil serves on some committee. To each group is given 
the responsibility of keeping the rest of the class informed 
on a certain topic. For example, to one committee will be 
assigned the Russian Revolution, to another the events in 
submarine warfare, another may have as a subject peace talk, 
etc. On the day assigned for the study of the war each com- 
mittee reports on the progress of events in its field during 
the preceeding week. Beside this report each committee must 
keep a carefully written note-book to be inspected by the 
teacher at any time, so the pupils have visible evidence for 
their work. Furthermore, the topic of each committee changes 
once in five or six weeks, so as to keep up the pupils' interest 
and broaden their view of the war. 

In the same high school war pictures have been extensively 
used for the study of the war. In a period of a few weeks 
last year over two hundred pictures were collected by the 
pupils. For the most part these were colored prints from 
photographs dealing with war machinery, conditions at the 
front, etc. The pupils classify them and paste them. on large 
heavy sheets of paper or cardboard for the use in the class- 
room. Not only are these pictures very valuable in the study 
of current war events, but they have also proved very useful 
in the ordinary history course. As Emmett A. Rice writes : 
"When the ancient empires of the east were studied the pupils 
had pictures of the late operation of the British on the Tigris 
River. When the Crusades were spoken of, pictures of the 
British advances in Palestine were available. When the study 
of the Gothic architecture was taken up, pictures of the Gothic 



78 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

churches ruined by the shell fire in the present war were ex- 
hibited. When mention was made of the historical import- 
ance of the Alps, pictures representing the great difficulty which 
even a modern army experiences were shown." (88). It has 
been claimed that this method has been a source of great satis- 
faction to the teacher and through it the pupils have obtained 
a knowledge of the war that could not have been obtained by 
reading alone. 

All these devices are very ingenious and adaptable to both 
elementary and high schools. They help the pupils to acquire 
the newspaper and magazine habits, to learn where to find 
authorities and sources, and to know how to evaluate the ma- 
terials they gather and, in some cases, to draw their own 
conclusions. This may sound a bit prematurely academic, yet 
these devices are the best means of approaching the training 
in historical-mindedness. They are essentially a laboratory 
method. We have been urging the use of the laboratory method 
in teaching elementary sciences, why not use the same method 
in teaching history. Of course, it should be understood that 
these devices are not to be used by the teachers as a means 
of shirking their responsibility of preparation. They should 
make more extensive preparation over a wide field of subjects 
in connection with the war in order to be able to direct their 
pupils to read intelligently and systematically. If they expect 
the pupils to work hard, they themselves must work harder. 
The present situation offers a great opportunity for moderniza- 
ing and rejuvenating the traditional way of history teaching. 
When this opportunity is fully utilized by the teachers, history 
will awake from the dead. 

Geography 

Next to history, the study of geography evidently bears a 
very close relationship to the study of the war. Indeed we 
can not understand the causes of the present war unless we 
know the geographical situations of the belligerent countries; 
nor can we follow the events of the war printed daily in the 
press with any tolerable intelligence unless we familiarize our- 
selves with the peculiar topographic conditions of the fronts 
at which the battles occur. E. H. Reisner thinks that the 
causes of the war are largely geographical in the wider mean- 
ing of the term, and the conditions of world-peace are to be 
largely geographical as well. Prof. D. W. Johnson of 
Columbia University has in his recent book entitled " Topo- 
graphy and Strategy in the War " pointed out in a very mas- 
terful manner how the surface features of Europe have con- 
trolled in a large measure the issues of the various campaigns, 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 79 

contributing to success in one field and imposing failure in 
another. Prof. Samuel B. Harding of Indiana University 
thinks that " at bottom it is geography which has enabled 
Great Britain to maintain her supremacy over the surface of 
the seas ; it is geography that has forced Germany to attempt 
her challenge of that control by means of submarines and air- 
craft; and it is geography, in the main, which is so seriously 
hampering the efforts of the United States to bring to bear 
in the war its great potential resources ; and . . . it is 
geography — in the form of colonies, spheres of trade and in- 
fluence, control of lines of transportation, and considerations 
affecting the present and future sufficiency of the sources of 
food-supply, together with those of iron and coal so vitally 
important to an industrial nation — that makes up the essence 
of the German demand for 'a larger place in the sun' which 
caused the present war." Considering every phase of this 
great world struggle, geographical knowledge is absolutely 
indispensable for any intelligent appreciation of the situation. 
Very unfortunately the geography taught in elementary 
schools has not given the youth the necessary knowledge that 
is of help in understanding the conditions as they exist. It 
has largely consisted of locational studies, as jE. H. Reisner 
stated, such as the positions of the states, the location of the 
principal cities, mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, plains, and 
coastal identations, together with some attention to climatic 
conditions and a very limited consideration of the influence 
of climate, topography, and natural resources upon the occu- 
pations and ways of living of mankind. This is the way the 
geography of the United States has been taught, while the 
geography of the world has received only a very limited con- 
sideration. The worst thing of all is that this information 
type of geography teaching has relied too much upon the text- 
books. Pupils study the geographical facts almost entirely 
from the printed pages which usually do not give them any 
unity of knowledge, and the teachers on the other hand fur- 
nish them no means to facilitate their comprehension. What 
they have learned by heart is soon forgotten, because 
they never understood. This sad state of affairs was 
clearly shown by the result of a test recently given to a 
Freshman class of 250 students in the University of Wis- 
consin. (114). Among the questions asked in the said test 
was this one : " Give your estimate of the approximate area 
(1) of your own state, (2) of Japan, (3) of the United States, 
(4) of the British Isles, and (5) of Germany." It was stated 
by Prof. R. H. Whitbeck, the examiner, that the chief pur- 
pose of this question was to discover whether the students 



80 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

really had any basis for intelligently estimating areas of im- 
portant countries. But the answers showed such a surprising 
ignorance of the students in geographical facts as to be un- 
believable. For inctance, one student said the British Isles 
had an area of 1,000 square miles, while another one thought 
that they had an area of 10,000,000 square miles. One 
student estimated the area of the United States at 15,000 
square miles, another at 15,000,000 square miles, another 
at 75,000,000 and another at 110,000,000. One student esti- 
mated Japan at 750 square miles, another at 10,000,000, and 
another at 40,000,000. In the same test another question was 
asked concerning the estimate of the approximate distances 
between certain large cities. The answers again showed a 
remarkable degree of variation. One student estimated the 
distance between Chicago and New Orleans at 210 miles, 
while another estimated it at 19,000 miles. One student esti- 
mated the distance from New York to Liverpool at 600 miles, 
another at 20,000 miles. Similar incredible variations were 
also recorded throughout the answers to other questions. 
Prof. Whitbeck thinks that the cause of this ignorance on the 
part of the first year college students is due to the inherent 
defectiveness of geography instruction in the elementary 
school. As he says : " The fact is that elementary geography 
is, almost of necessity, a study that appeals mainly to the 
memory, and the facts of geography learned in the grade school 
are soon forgotten. The pupils are immature when they learn 
these facts and do not appreciate their bearing or relation- 
ships. They have not the experience or general knowledge to 
grasp the real meaning of most of the geographical information 
which they temporarily possess." Whatever may be the cause 
the rejuvenation of geography teaching is certainly a matter 
of pressing necessity. 

Now, this war has offered a great opportunity for such 
rejuvenation. In connection with the war, the world has been 
studying all phases of geography, political, economic, and 
physical, as never before. It has been said that the present 
generation has learned more geography in the past four 
years than all the preceding decades combined. The whole 
world has been seeking the explanation of the war in geography. 
The source of the world's coal and iron, its oil and wheat 
fields, its trade routes, together with the racial elements and 
political boundaries of the belligerent countries have become 
the subjects of serious consideration among every thinking 
people. Now, why not connect the geography instruction 
with the epoch-making happenings of to-day? In doing so, 
we shall accomplish two definite purposes, the modernizing 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 81 

of geography teaching on the one hand and the teaching of 
the war on the other. 

To my questionnaire referred to at the beginning of this 
chapter only a few answers have come from the geography 
teachers. I shall reproduce two or three of them in order 
to show how the modification of geography instruction has 
been made. 

One high school teacher writes : 

" I teach the war in connection with geography and 
modify my instruction because the geography condi- 
tions of the nations at war have been important factors 
in the struggle. . 

" This is the time to develop the ability to use maps and 
atlases, and such ability is absolutely necessary for 
intelligent reading to-day. The location of the can- 
tonments in the United States, the ship-building plants, 
ammunition factories, and the European places that 
have come into prominence during the struggle, have 
afforded an excellent opportunity for teaching the war 
in connection with Geography. 

Another high school teacher writes : 

" I assign current topics with each subject taught in these 
classes (Commercial Geography A. and B.), and the 
main discussion is how the war has affected the country 
we study. For instance, how the war has deprived 
France of her chief mineral resources, or why we must 
increase our wheat yield next year. We teach loca- 
tion of the different war regions, and how the trans- 
portation of the entire world has been changed to meet 
the conditions brought by the war. . 

Such are the specimens of the work of those teachers who 
are trying to readjust their class-room work to the need of 
the present. Such efforts are highly praise-worthy and should 
in every way be encouraged. By way of suggestion I shall 
mention a few things which may be of some help to those 
who are administering the subject. 

It goes without saying that geography is one of the most 
complicated subjects in the school curriculum. It contains 
a little bit of every essential topic of human concern, but 
nothing is stated in an exhaustive way or in a systematic 
manner. President Hall thinks that " school geography is 
contemporary world-lore for the masses. . . . It is made 
up of small but varying elements of the following topics : 
astronomy, climatology, meteorology, mineralogy, geology, 



82 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

paleontology, botany, zoology, anthropology, and history. It 
tells something about the sky, air, clouds, storms, the sea, 
rivers, the earth, soil, trees, plants, crops, or the flora and 
fauna generally, agriculture, manufacture, and commerce, all 
classes and races of men, from the Kaffir in his Kraal up 
to the latest arts, inventions, discoveries of modern man, 
government, finance, forestry, navigation, railroads, exports, 
imports, maps and their making, industries and occupations, 
clothing, food, health and disease as affected by locality, 
architecture, hydrography, sociology, etc." Its content is 
of encyclopedic nature and its instruction can not be reduced 
to any hypermethodic form. No attempt shall be made here 
to suggest any specific content or method for the teaching of 
it with reference to the war. What I am going to suggest is 
largely along the line of shifting the points of emphasis on 
certain phases of geographical facts. 

In the first place, some special emphasis should be placed 
upon the political and economic aspects of the countries now 
at war. Very recently I read a lesson plan in geography re- 
lating to Germany as it was adopted in a 6B grade in the 
Robert Treat School, Newark, N. J. It impressed me that 
the author has achieved a distinct success in her effort of 
connecting her instruction with the study of the war. The 
first six of the ten lessons were built upon the main problem : 
" Are Germany's resources sufficient to support her during 
this war?" It first dealt with her location and showed how 
her geographical situation had helped her to obtain food sup- 
plies from her Allies, from neutral countries, and from 
conquered lands ; then with her natural resources, her 
industry, her commerce, and her exports and imports ; then 
with her wheat supply and its deficiency; and finally came 
to the conclusion that " the Germans are now suffering from 
a shortage of many necessities, but are not starving . They can 
still fight on. No one knows how their final defeat will come." 
The next four lessons were confined mainly to her government 
system, her school system, and her relations with the northern 
neutral countries. The whole plan has a unity of purpose 
and covers a great many important subjects. Indeed, it has 
been so carefully planned and skillfully executed that it may 
serve as a model of how the belligerent countries may be 
similarly studied. 

School geography, if rightly taught, should be the most 
interesting subject in the curriculum. It should train the 
imagination as well as the reasoning power of children. Never 
was there a greater opportunity in achieving such a pedagogic 
purpose than the study of the political and economic geography 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 83 

of the belligerent countries. The meaning of " ironless 
France," the starvation policy of the English Blockade, the 
audacious scheme of the Berlin-Bagdad railway, the ambitious 
program of Mittel-Europe dream, the combined resources of 
the Central Powers and of the Allies, and the possibility of a 
trade war against Germany in case her militarism is not 
crushed, can all be discussed in the geography classes in the 
higher grades and in the high schools with the most fascinat- 
ing, inspiring, and humanistic interest, if the teachers only 
have the willingness and professional ability to do so. 

In the second place, some special emphasis should be placed 
upon the problem of the world food supply. We have been 
asked to conserve wheat for the Allies, but just why? We 
have been told that there is a world shortage of food produc- 
tion, but just how? All these burning questions must be 
answered and the geography teachers are in a unique position 
to answer them. It is their patriotic duty, and they have no 
excuse for not doing it. 

So much for the content. With regard to the method of 
instruction, nothing specially new can be said. Map reading 
can not be too much emphasized for the young. Graphic curves 
and colored charts for the statistical study of the natural re- 
sources of different countries are wanted. War maps, war 
pictures, cartoons, periodicals, magazines, etc., are indispen- 
sable. Text-books are, of course, needed, but they are not 
enough. Perhaps we need some new kinds of text-books 
which will give all the necessary information desired at 
present. Finally, it should be taken for granted that we need 
more than ever before those highly trained, intelligent, and 
resourcesful teachers who can adapt the materials and methods 
to the child. . 

Civics 

Only a few answers have been received from the teachers 
of civics in the course of my investigation. One Civics -teacher 
writes : 

" In civics the work has been greatly modified. The 
text-book has been to a great extent discarded and the 
daily papers and magazines have taken its place. 

" The change in the work of our government, the power 
of the President, the question of the development of a 
democratic autocracy all have engaged our attention. 

" I find that the pupils are more alive in the work than 
heretofore, they seem to realize that the questions that 
are now arising will need to be solved in their manhood 
and they are anxious to be ready. 



84 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

" The city questions which have arisen because of the 
war have also called for discussion. Care has been taken 
to get the pupils not to judge without knowledge." 

This is one of the answers so far received on the subject. 
Taking the country as a whole, the signs of the day are un- 
mistakable that the formal instruction in civics which was 
introduced into the school curriculum soon after the Civil 
War, in the form of a clause-by-clause memorization of the 
Federal Constitution, interspersed with salaries and terms of 
office of government officials is rapidly losing ground, and 
the new civics which tends to train for good citizenship is 
gradually taking its place. To go into the detailed discussion 
on the theory, content, and method of this widely heralded 
new civics is beyond the scope of this chapter. What we are 
specially interested in is the problem of how to teach civics 
to meet the present needs. 

It seems that instruction in civics should have two objects: 
first, to mitigate the intense natural egoism of childhood; 
second, to inculcate in children certain fundamental civic vir- 
tues, such as obedience, truthfulness, courteousness, etc., 
which are the prime requisites of a good social order. 

The way to attain the first object is to develop in every 
child the moral sense of service. This is coming to be, as it 
should be, the supreme goal of all pedagogical endeavor, and 
the standard by which all the other educational values are 
measured. Children are by nature selfish. To check their 
growing selfish interests by developing in them the spirit of 
service and devotion to duty is certainly an audacious task. 
But it is the special province of the teachers of civics to shoul- 
der this task. They should teach the child the meaning of 
inter-dependence between the individual and his community. 
They should emphasize that the duty of a good citizen is to 
conduct himself with proper regard for the welfare of the 
social group of which he is a member. They should also bring 
home to the child that supreme manhood and womanhood 
is to give not to get, to serve not to be served, to live and die 
for the welfare of the nation not for themselves. To be sure, 
these abstract principles are quite beyond the comprehension 
of the average child, yet the teaching of " Community Civics" 
as recently proposed by the educators in this country furnishes 
us the very best means in achieving this great pedagogical 
purpose, if the teachers know the right way of approach. 

In this connection I must mention the new program of civic 
training recently inaugurated in the public schools of Phila- 
delphia. (12). The program covers the entire period of the 
elementary school. In the early grades the fundamental civic 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 85 

virtues are inculcated by the use of stories, songs, games, 
memory gems, and dramatization. Then follows the study of 
community services rendered in a personal way or by cor- 
porate agencies, such as the plumber, the policemen, the fire- 
men, etc. Then the work of the last two years is devoted to 
the study of various elements of community welfare, such as 
health, education, recreation, transportation, etc. Finally, at 
the end of the eighth grade, the organization and function of 
government are discussed very briefly so as to differentiate 
between city, state, and nation. When the community civics is 
presented to the child in such a systematic and progressive 
manner, we have every reason to expect that he will not only 
learn many facts about his community but also understand the 
meaning of his community life and his particular relation to it. 
So much must be the gain. 

Furthermore, the various war activities, as I have discussed 
in the chapter on moral training, should have a direct rela- 
tionship with the civic instruction. The important part 
played by school children in the campaigns of Liberty Loans 
and of War Saving Stamps, the war gardens, the work of 
the Red Cross, the pledges of food conservation, all these and 
many other activities tend to enhance in the child group con- 
sciousness and sense of common duty. They are practical 
civics, although some teachers may not recognize them as 
such. 

The problem of accomplishing the second object of civics 
teaching, namely, to inculcate fundamental civic virtues, is 
a difficult one. Civics teachers may think that this task rightly 
belongs to the domain of moral instruction and it is not their 
business to deal with it. I wonder what is the aim of teach- 
ing civics. If it is only to give the child a knowledge of the 
organization and function of the government from the text- 
books, this attitude perhaps has its justification. But if it 
is to train for good citizenship, can the teachers of this virile 
subject shirk the responsibility of this moral instruction? 
To me, civics is synonymous with applied morality. Civic 
virtues are the bases of good citizenship. The mental horizon 
of a good citizen must be much larger than himself. If 
instruction in civics is not to make the children of to-day 
better men and women of to-morrow, then the time spent for 
it in the school would be a sheer waste and should be devoted 
to some other subject which will do the most good. 

Now, this time of civic awakening caused by the war con- 
stitutes a pedagogic opportunity too valuable to be lost. There 
is a new social consciousness centered around patriotism as 
its core, the sentiment of which is each for all and all for 



86 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

each. Civics teachers can inculcate the civic virtues in the 
child on the ground of patriotism. To-day is a day of hero 
worship. The young man in khaki looms very large in the 
mind of the child. Tell him that the first duty of a good 
soldier is to obey orders, so a good citizen must obey the 
law and the authority made and chosen by the people them- 
selves. Tell him that a good soldier must be truthful, courte- 
ous, clean in speech and prompt in action, so a good citizen 
must do likewise. My belief is that all these simple virtues 
taught in a high spirit and in a virile manner will not fail 
to make deep impression upon the child. The present is the 
most precious psychological moment for civic training and 
instruction. 

English 

Judging by the answer to my questionnaire we find that 
language instruction has been modified by the war. 

In English composition work we find many examples of 
writing on war subjects, such as thrift stamps, war gardens, 
food conservation, Red Cross, etc. Quite a few poems written 
by the school pupils have been received. The following 
written by a seventh grade girl of Detroit public school may 
be considered as typical. 

" Empty your plate and empty your platter, 
And save more meat, but waste no batter. 
You can eat fruit, and save the wheat, 
You can eat fish and save the meat, 
By saving wheat and meat, 
You can provide for our country's fleet." 

English literature, one teacher writes : 

" I teach the war in connection with literature by suggest- 
ing books an magazine articles about the war for out- 
side reading. Every month I take one of the class 
periods for a discussion of what has been read during 
the month. . . . " 

The commendable attempts made by the teachers of Eng- 
lish in teaching the war are clearly shown in the above ex- 
amples. Here I wish to offer one suggestion on the subject. 

This is that the children's reading on war subjects should 
be carefully directed. Since the outbreak of the war, thous- 
ands of books in the form of stories, fiction, poems, diaries, 
treaties, have been published on the different phases of the 
war. These are new books on entirely new subjects. They 
represent not only a great many varieties, but also a long scale 
of degrees of excellency. It seems to me that there is no 



THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 87 

other problem which looms larger for the English teachers 
than the problem of selecting from the vast and growing flood 
of war literature the suitable books for children to read. We 
have heard the appeals made by the educators that literature 
teaching should be ethical and inspirational rather than ana- 
lytical, and that it should be the power that makes for spirit- 
ual quickening. We know also that, although only in general 
terms, boys like action, adventure, and run to what is sensa- 
tional and even truculent, whereas girls like domestic and 
emotional literature; but we have not made very much head- 
way in our attempt to guard and direct the reading of the 
children whose souls have " just taken their flight into book- 
land." Now the outpouring of voluminous war literature has 
given us a new problem, that is, what should the children read 
in order to get proper understanding and correct information 
about the war? 

In Germany, the Jugendschriften-Warte of Berlin, founded 
by Ziegler in 1893, the official organ of the association of 
German committees for the criticism of children's books, has 
in a very large measure controlled the reading of the young 
in that country. This association undertakes the selection 
of suitable juvenile literature and establishes certain stand- 
ards, below which books for children are not permitted to 
circulate. Each book must be read independently by at least 
three members of the committee, who write their verdict with 
their reasons. Should all approve, the local committee adopts 
the book and it is sent in to the headquarters and the verdict 
is published. Through this process of control thousands of 
children's books have been placed on the approved lists pub- 
lished by the association. As President Hall says : "The work 
of the association has been a sentinel of children's literature 
and has been most beneficent." In this country we have noth- 
ing comparable to this association, although some excellent 
work has been done by the children's departments of different 
libraries along this line. 

Now, I suggest that some thing similar in nature to the 
work of this German associaiton be undertaken at present 
concerning the war books. I believe the American National 
Education Association is an organization eminently fitted to 
undertake such work. If a committee consisting of twelve 
or fifteen psychologists and educational experts be organized 
to go over the vast amount of war literature and recommend 
a list of books which are suitable for the young people to 
read, it will be a great help to the teacher and an inestimable 
value to the child upon whose education the future of the 
country depends. It goes without saying that in the course of 



88 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

selection the children's interest should always be the first 
consideration. Books of various subjects, ranging from the 
description of the operations of aeroplanes, zeppelins, sub- 
marines, the stories of the parts played by dogs and pigeons 
in the war, and of the heroic deeds of Red Cross nurses, up 
to the treatises on the future world-peace should be selected, 
so that the interests of both sexes and of different ages can 
be appealed to. There must be no jingo patriotism or com- 
monplace moral sermons. I should like to see that every war 
book published from now on be examined, commented on, 
and recommended by the committee, before it is placed in 
any of the children's libraries in the country. This may sound 
like an audacious task, but I see no reason why this can not 
be done. 

In conclusion, I may say that some resourceful teachers 
have modified their regular instruction on account of the war, 
although more might have been done. In my judgment 
this modification has been a change for the good. It has 
modernized and vitalized many traditional school subjects and 
made them more real to the interest of the child. Many of the 
suggestions made here with particular reference to the teach- 
ing of the war may also be applied in times of peace. May 
we never go back to the old order of things after the war is 
over! 



CHAPTER V 

REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 
SYSTEM AFTER THE WAR 

The foregoing chapters have dealt with some specific prob- 
lems of the public schools as caused by the war. What the effect 
of this war is to be on the minds of men and on civilization, in 
general, is not yet entirely clear, but we do know that this 
greatest crisis of the world's history can not fail to effect a 
new conception of the meaning and purpose of public educa- 
tion. It does not take the eyes of a prophet to see that after 
the war we shall live in a changed world ; and in this changed 
world we are quite certain that public education will be the 
most important and the most effective agency for restoring 
and rebuilding civilization. Students conversant with the 
history of education in this country have often said that the 
school has been the bulwark of this great republic. But 
the school of to-day has acquired a new significance and a 
new meaning. It shall become a steering gear, as it were, of 
a new democratic civilization that is struggling to be born out 
of the convulsions of these most critical times of mankind. 
We are forced to ask ourselves the question : What sort of 
an educational program is capable of performing this new 
function or rather specifically, what kind of a school system 
is needed in this country in the coming new world order? To 
answer this question is the task which the writer sets for him- 
self in this chapter. 

1. Nationalization of Public Education 

Education as a community affair was the early conception 
in this country. At the time when this great Republic was 
founded, the community interests were so large, the state in- 
terest so meagre, and the national interests so indefinite that 
the instruction and the training of the children were con- 
sidered merely as a local undertaking to meet the local needs. 
Education as a national unifying agency did not lie within the 
field of vision of the founders of this country. The Federal 
Constitution made no mention of any form of education for 
the people. The terms of the Tenth Amendment of the Consti- 
tution definitely state that " the powers not delegated to the 
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." 

89 



90 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

Education was one of the unmentioned powers, therefore it 
has remained in the hands of the states ever since. Neither 
national supervision of education nor a national system of 
schools has ever been considered as important. 

In the days when life was simple, population was homo- 
geneous, industry was in its primitive stage, commerce between 
states was still of rare occurrence, this neighborhood concep- 
tion of education had its justification. Indeed, the early com- 
munal interest was so limited in its scope that the need for 
education and for the knowledge of reading, writing and 
ciphering was a relatively minor one. But this narrow con- 
ception of education could not long endure in the face of the 
increasing demands of a growing civilization. The gradual 
development of industry, the introduction of machinery, the 
extension of manhood suffrage, the growth of urban popula- 
tion and many other factors of social revolution have all 
tended to awaken the demands for tax-supported schools 
under the authority and the partial support of the state. It 
has become necessary for the state to assume the responsibility 
to see that every child born within its borders must have the 
guaranteed opportunities of education and training. The 
principle that the wealth of the state must be utilized for the 
education of its children has gradually been brought into the 
focus of attention. With the growing facilities of the means 
of communication, the great movement of population from one 
locality to another has brought the thinking people face to 
face with the reality that the burdens of ignorance, incapa- 
bility, dependence and degeneration, resulting from the neglect 
of the state to care properly for the children and youth, rest 
upon society in general rather than upon the community that 
produced such conditions. State control, direct or indirect, 
was inevitable. Hence the state laws of compulsory attend- 
ance, state support, state supervision, and inspection which 
were considered as unimportant and unnecessary have been 
established in the period of a few decades. 

But the development of public education did not and can not 
stop with the state support and state supervision. Education 
in a democracy for the upbuilding and advancing of demo- 
cratic civilization must be universal and efficient; and the 
problems of universal and efficient education are too com- 
prehensive and too far reaching in their consequences for any 
individual state of the Union to deal with them adequately 
without calling for the cooperation and coordination of all the 
forces found to exist in both the states and the nation. Since 
the last half of the past century, it has become clearer and 
clearer that the questions of training for citizenship, and the 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 91 

maintenance of public prosperity and improvement are ques- 
tions of the United States rather than those of the separate 
states. With the enlargement of population by. immigration, 
with the increase of illiteracy, and with the growing lack of 
homogeneity and social sympathy, it has been quite evident to 
students of education and statesmen alike that some sort of 
national aid, encouragement and guidance of education must 
be instituted even if it is to some extent contrary to the 
original notion of the function of the state. The Federal Gov- 
ernment has been steadily moving in the direction of more 
and more participation in educational matters. The time- 
honored theory that education is under the exclusive control 
of the state has been gradually losing its strength in the face 
of national demands. 

The Federal Government, while exercising no general con- 
trol over the state systems of education, has by legislation and 
the appropriation of money carried out several measures that 
concern the educational policy of the separate states. 

The first was the Morrill Act. Through it and the measures 
that followed it Congress has made large appropriations for 
the support of agricultural and mechanical colleges in all the 
states. The administration of these appropriations was left 
to the states themselves and the Federal Government exercised 
very little control over the expenditure of this money. In 
1914, Congress passed the Agricultural Extension Act for the 
purpose of giving instruction and practical demonstrations in 
agriculture and home economics to persons not attending the 
State agricultural colleges. The Act provides an initial sum 
of $480,000 to be equally distributed among the states the first 
year and also an additional annual appropriation until the 
total sum of $4,580,000 is reached. The Act further provides 
that no payment out of the additional appropriation shall be 
made in any year to any state until an equal sum has been 
raised by the state for the maintenance of the cooperative 
agricultural extension work. It is significant to notice here 
that the federal aid serves as an inducement for the educa- 
tional effort of the states. 

The second Act on the part of the Federal Government for 
the purpose of educational efficiency and unity was the crea- 
tion of a bureau of education under a Commissioner of Educa- 
tion. This office was established in 1867, but the function of 
the bureau has been limited to the work of a statistical agency 
dealing with the various existing educational conditions in this 
country and abroad. The Commissioner has no responsibility 
in directing and supervising the educational systems of the 
states. 



92 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

The third Act towards a constructive and systematic 
national direction of education was the Smith-Hughes Act 
passed by Congress February, 1917. This Act provides that 
Federal grants shall be made for the purpose of cooperating 
with the states in the promotion of vocational education. By 
this Act, one-half the cost of the salaries of teachers of trade 
and home economics and of teachers, supervisors, and 
directors of agricultural subjects and one-half the total cost 
of the preparation of vocational teachers are paid by the Fed- 
eral Government up to the limit set for the Government appro- 
priation. The state or the local community or both must 
meet all the other expenses of the school, including site, 
plant, equipment and operating expenses, together with the 
salaries of teachers of academic subjects. The most signifi- 
cant feature of this Act is the provision that the Federal 
Board of Vocational Education may withhold the allotment of 
Federal money to any state if the provisions of the Act are 
not complied with. Thus both Federal support and Federal 
control are provided 

Beside these Acts, the nationalizing tendency of education 
has been manifested in a few other movements. 

The first is the movement of providing Federal grants for 
the elimination of illiteracy. The attempt was first made by 
the Blair Bills of 1881-1887 which proposed to make a national 
educational grant to the states in proportion to the number 
of illiterates in each. The Senate of the Forty-eighth, Forty- 
ninth and Fiftieth Congresses passed the bill three times in 
succession but it was found impossible to pass it through the 
House, and the attempt to secure legislation was then 
abandoned. 

Since America's entrance into the war, the problem of 
illiteracy has again loomed large in the minds of the thinking 
people. In a letter to the President and the Chairmen of the 
Senate and House Committees on Education, Secretary Lane 
of the Interior has called attention to the urgent need of edu- 
cation for the illiterates. The essential facts presented in 
the letter are as follows : 

There were in the United States, according to the 1910 
census, 5,516,163 persons over 10 years of age who were 
unable to read or write in any language. At present, there 
are nearly 700,000 men of draft age who can not read or 
write in English or in any other language. Over 4,600,000 
of the illiterates in this country were twenty years of age or 
more. The percentage of illiterates varied in the several 
states from 1.7% in Iowa to 29% in Louisiana. More than 
10% of them were in 13 states. Over 58% were white per- 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 93 

sons, and of these 1,500,000 were native whites. The letter 
further estimates the economic loss arising out of this con- 
dition. If the productive labor value of an illiterate is less by- 
only 50 cents a day than that of an educated man or woman 
the country is losing $825,000,000 a year through illiteracy. 
The Federal Government and the States spend millions of dol- 
lars annually in trying to give information to the people in 
rural districts about farming and home-making. Yet 3,700,000 
or 10% of the country folk can not read or write a word. 

Following this appeal a bill known as the Smith-Bankhead 
Bill was introduced in both Houses of Congress, authorizing 
the Commissioner of Education to devise methods and co- 
operate with the states for the elimination of illiteracy. At 
the time of this writing, this bill has received unanimous en- 
dorsement of the educational committees of both Houses and 
will very likely be carried through. 

Again a bill for national aid in physical education has been 
recently proposed by the Bureau of Education. The purpose 
of the bill is " to provide for the promotion of physical edu- 
cation; for cooperation with the states in the preparation and 
payment of directors, supervisors, and teachers of physical 
education ; and to appropriate money and regulate its expendi- 
ture." The most significant features of this bill, from the 
standpoint of national control are: (1) the Bureau of Edu- 
cation shall be responsible for the administration of this act; 

(2) for each dollar of the Federal money expended for any 
purpose under the provisions of this Act, the State or local 
authority or both shall expend not less than an equal amount; 

(3) the Commissioner of Education shall make or cause to 
be made studies, demonstrations, investigations and reports 
with particular reference to the organization and conduct of 
physical education in elementary, secondary and normal 
schools. Although this bill has not been introduced in Con- 
gress, yet it has already had the approval and support of the 
leading educators of the nation. 

Enough instances have been cited to illustrate the increas- 
ing tendencies toward nationalizing public education. The 
signs are unmistakable, but the existing situations still point 
to the task yet undone. We have realized that in a dynamic 
society the highest and best education for all the children is 
not only a local necessity, but a national affair and a national 
demand. We have also come to realize that the separate 
States can not carry out a program of education adequate for 
the nation. But we have no central agency to assume the 
leadership of direction, encouragement, stimulation, cooper- 
ation and supervision in the field of educational endeavor. 



94 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

The movement for the establishment of a national department 
of education has been started decades ago, yet nothing tan- 
gible has been accomplished in that direction. Now that we 
are facing a new task of social reconstruction, it may be well 
for us to reexamine this question. 

The chief objection which has been raised against the estab- 
lishment of a national department of education is based on 
the preservation of state rights. Since education is one of the 
unmentioned powers reserved to the states according to the 
Federal Constitution, it would seem at first sight to be an 
usurpation of the state function on the part of the national 
government if it establishes some sort of national direction 
and national supervision over popular education. But such 
is not in reality the case. Popular education is an indispens- 
able agency for the preservation and advancement of demo- 
cratic civilization and no instrumentality less universal in its 
power and authority than the national government can secure 
the equality of opportunity for the training and education of all 
individuals within the nation. During the eighteen months of 
war, the government has taken over the management of rail- 
roads and other means of transportation, the administration 
of food and fuel and the control of many other industries 
which supply the necessities of life. All these actions are for 
the efficiency of management and for the equalization of con- 
ditions for the welfare of all the individuals concerned. Why 
not popular education? The efficiency of school management 
and the equalization of conditions for individual development 
are indispensable for the maintenance and success of a free 
government. We have the Inter-state Commerce Commission 
to regulate the conditions of commerce between States. Why 
should we not have a national department of education for the 
support and regulation of popular education? Commerce is 
important. Education is certainly just as important as com- 
merce, if not more. Arguments based on state rights furnish 
no justifiable ground against such a movement of national 
importance. 

Another objection raised against centralized control in the 
matter of education is that it tends to bring forth undesir- 
able national uniformity. People who raise such objection 
have advanced argument that educational systems are less 
important than education and that a central government office 
tends inevitably to value systems and uniformity which may 
deaden local interests, stiflle local initiative, and eliminate local 
responsibility. This objection is a very important one. We 
must concede that the fundamental principle of school ad- 
ministration is to develop in the individual and in the com- 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 95 

munity the local feeling of responsibility in order to insure 
the progress of democratic education. Centralized control 
does tend to take away this local feeling of responsibility 
and thus may defeat its own purpose. But this objection points 
merely to a possible danger of centralized control, not an 
insurmountable difficulty. We can take cognizance of such 
danger by limiting the powers of the central office. We can 
check the undesirable conditions of uniformity by having 
strong local bodies capable of interpreting local needs and 
conditions and preventing the imposition of mere prescrip- 
tion from above. The central government can lay down 
general policies, such as those concerning the age of com- 
pulsory attendance, provision of industrial and vocational 
education, continuation schools, consolidation of rural schools, 
the minimum course of study, etc., and leave to the States 
or local communities the power to choose their own tools to 
carry out the national purpose. 

In connection with this discussion the recent Education 
Act passed by the British Parliament is very much to the 
point. The Act establishes a national minimum with regard 
to compulsory attendance, child labor, physical welfare of 
the children, and continuation schools, below which no local 
community is permitted to fall. The Act further provides 
that each local authority shall prepare and submit to the Cen- 
tral Board of Education a comprehensive scheme of educa- 
tion for its own area. The Central Board considers each 
scheme and makes suggestions where suggestions are desir- 
able. When a scheme is approved, it will be carried out by 
the local authority, acting largely in independence of the 
Board, and half the cost will be paid by the central govern- 
ment, leaving the remaining half to be met by local taxes. 
We can see very clearly that the distinct feature of this Act 
is the provision of the local control under national direction. 
I am quite convinced that most of the attendant evils in con- 
nection with the creation of a national department of educa- 
tion can be avoided, if the principle of uniformity in general 
policies and diversity in details is recognized as the keynote 
of national control. In brief the advantages of creating a 
national department of education may be stated as follows : 

(1) It can serve as the chief agency to study the national 
problems and needs of education, not only in the way of col- 
lecting and publishing statistics, but also in assuming the re- 
sponsibility of formulating definite and practical programs. 
The bureau of education has already done some valuable work 
under the circumstances in issuing annual reports and various 
kinds of publications concerning the existing conditions and 



96 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

progress of education in this country and abroad. But this 
country must do something more definite, active and practical 
for the education of all its citizens than simply to distribute 
facts and advice through the Commissioner of Education. We 
need a national leadership in education, and this leadership 
can be secured only through the creation of a special depart- 
ment for the purpose. 

(2) The national department of education can insure an 
equal educational opportunity for all the children of the 
nation. It can make a minimum standard which every State 
and every local community must try to reach. It can initiate 
new policies to meet certain special educational needs. It 
can help the separate States to solve their particular educa- 
tional problems by national grants and, if need be, can compel 
action on the part of the backward States. Education is the 
birthright of the child, and it should be the chief duty of 
the natonal department of education to see to it that no child 
shall be unfairly handicapped because he happens to be born 
in one district rather than in another. Take for instance, the 
problem of rural schools. As a rule the country children 
have not been provided with educational opportunities equal 
to those of the city. On account of the lack of adequate 
financial support the rural schools are poorly equipped and 
the teachers are often of very inferior grades. In recent 
years the Bureau of Education and other educational agencies 
have been making campaigns for the betterment of rural 
schools but with relatively little success. Now, if a national 
department of education is created and is invested with cer- 
tain power of national control and supervision, it can compel 
the rural schools to consolidate, it can provide the rural dis- 
tricts with financial help in the process of consolidation, it 
can withhold the state and national appropriations from any 
community that refuses to consolidate and it can also give 
expert direction with regard to the plans and procedure of 
consolidation, if such direction is needed. Thus the whole 
problem of rural schools may be solved in a few years. This 
is one of the possibilities. Many other educational problems 
can be solved in similar manner, if such a central agency 
exists. 

(3) It can place the national resources at the disposal of the 
States in equalizing their educational burdens. Children are 
the assets and liabilities of the nation no matter where they 
live. In educational matters, we have to think in terms of the 
nation. It is not just to let the poor States bear greater 
educational burdens than the rich ones. According to the 
recent data available we find Georgia spends annually 6.3 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 97 

mills of the assessed valuation of its real and personal prop- 
erty on its public schools, while New York State spends but 
4.7 mills; and a great variation has also been shown among 
the other states. Again, economic disparities between States 
are very great. California, for each child between 5 and 18 
years of age, has property to the value of $15,000; Mississippi, 
$2,100. Consequently California is in a much better finan- 
cial position than Mississippi to spend more money for popular 
education. Further, the school population in proportion to 
the population in general varies also greatly between States. 
For each 100 children, Nevada has 180 men of 21 years and 
over. South Carolina has 58. Therefore the latter, on account 
of its large percentage of school population, has to provide 
more money than the former for public schools, if an equal 
educational opportunity is provided. These are the actual 
conditions existing to-day. If a national department is created, 
it can equalize by Federal grants the burdens that must be 
carried for the benefit of the whole nation. 

Such are the few typical advantages of the creation of a 
national department of education. Taking the country as a 
whole, the sentiment has been overwhelmingly in favor of such 
a movement. The National Education Association has been 
working on the problem for many years. The Association 
of College Presidents has also taken an active interest in it. 
And the most important of all, the American Federation of 
Labor has recently adopted a comprehensive program at the 
St. Paul meeting and instructed its executive council to " take 
measures to secure the creation of a Federal Department 
of Education headed by a Cabinet officer." It seems to me 
that the time is ripe for the inauguration of this national 
educational leadership. Action must take the place of debate. 
It has been urged that the American people must develop an 
international mind in the world politics, so it is not a high- 
sounding idealism to say that they must have a national mind 
in education. 

II. State, County and City School Administration 

In the last section I have pointed out the desirability of 
national supervision and control of education. I have also 
tried to indicate the limits of power which the national de- 
partment of education may exercise. The principle that the 
department should confine itself to the formation of the general 
educational policies and let the separate states have a large 
degree of freedom in carrying out the national puropse should 
be considered as fundamental. National supervision should 
never be exercised in such a manner as to produce national 



98 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

uniformity. Now we may turn our attention to the functions 
of the separate states in the field of school administration. 

As I have already said that education was tacitly regarded 
by the framers of the Federal Constitution as a power to be 
reserved to the states, so in the development of American 
public education, the state has always been the unit. Although 
the states in the early days delegated the power of establish- 
ing schools to the districts, or counties or townships, yet these 
political units are the creation of the states. The states created 
these subdivisions and endowed them with powers in the mat- 
ter of education for the purposes of local administration. 
In practically all cases the power delegated by the states to 
the local units was so large that state oversight and control 
was never very much exercised until a few decades ago. 
In the pioneer days when the need of education was relatively 
unimportant, many of the state legislations concerning educa- 
tion were purely "permissive measures." They merely granted 
to the local communities the right or organizing schools, but 
laid down no mandatory requirement. The principle of tax- 
supported schools was not firmly established until 1850. The 
movement for the unification and control of the local school 
systems on the part of the states was not well on its way 
until the eighties of the last century. The state superin- 
tendents have long been mere collectors of statistics and dis- 
tributors of state funds to the local school districts and have 
done little in the way of formulating constructive and practical 
policies of public instruction. In other words, the evolution 
of education in the different states has been gradually mov- 
ing towards state control, yet many things desirable have 
remained unaccomplished. 

Now, in our discussion of the possible reorganization of 
public education, we may examine the direction which the 
state administrative organization should take. 

1. The position of the chief state educational officers should 
be raised to a place of greater importance than heretofore. 
Its function should not be confined largely to statistical and 
clerical work. It must be one which requires professional 
and constructive leadership in its performance. The chief 
officer must be empowered to exercise his educational states- 
manship and to carry out educational policies of the state with 
an authority commensurate with their importance. The 
method of selecting the chief school officer for a state on a 
basis of partisan nomination and election, of limiting the 
choice to citizens of the state, must be discarded. The best 
prepared men for such office will not be likely to enter into a 
political race with the uncertainty of election and with the 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 99 

possibility of great humilation in case of defeat. They do not 
wish to lower their professional dignity and to sell their service 
in an open market. In order to secure the best men and women 
for such office the method of selection must undergo a great 
change. 

According to the prevailing opinion of students of school 
administration, the best form of state educational organization 
is to have a small board consisting of five or seven members 
to be appointed by the governor. Appointment to such board 
should be made on the basis of one's ability and fitness to 
serve the schools of the state without reference to party 
affiliation, religious connections, or occupation. This board 
should consist of the best representative citizens of the state. 
The main duty of this board is to select the professional 
expert as its chief executive. This board shall have the re- 
sponsibility of general educational control and exercise only 
the legislative function, while the executive work shall be 
entirely left to the chief executive officer, the " State Com- 
missioner of Education," or the " State Superintendent of 
Education " or by whatever other name he is called. In other 
words, the position of the chief state educational officer 
should enlist the service of the best men and women and 
should be powerful enough to put into operation the policies 
based on a careful and an intelligent study of educational 
conditions and administrative needs. 

2. The state department of education in conformity with 
the general educational policies of the nation, should establish 
a minimum standard for all local school units. The educa- 
tional system of a nation should provide the utmost measure 
of variety and elasticity, but nowhere should it be permitted 
to fall below the minimum requirement which is necessary for 
fitting the children for the duties of life. This is a principle 
upon which the national control is based; and this is also the 
principle to which the state department of education must 
try to conform, although in a comparatively limited scope. 
In matters like the length of school terms, the nature of 
instruction, school equipment and provisions, the local unit 
of administration, the sanitary requirement of school build- 
ings, and the rates and forms of taxation to be imposed, 
state regulation is indispensable. The state can lay down 
the minimum and compel the backward districts to meet the 
requirement. If any community is financially incapable of 
meeting the requirement, then the state must assume its 
obligation in helping such community by way of state aid. 

3. The danger of undesirable uniformity may also occur 
in case of the unwise exercise of state power. Uniformity 



100 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

and standardization are very likely to take place in the cen- 
tralized control because they tend to make the administra- 
tion easier. The state can establish the minimum standards, 
but must also allow the progressive communities to exceed 
the minima if their financial ability permits them to do so. 
And these minima must be raised from time to time in order 
to keep pace with the increasing demand of a progressive 
society. Local initiative and local interests are the founda- 
tions of democratic education. We must by all means keep 
them alive. 

Next to the state, the county should represent the natural 
local unit for educational organization and administration. 
But in the existing situations this is by no means the case. In 
over one half of all the states in the Union the expensive, 
inefficient and unprogressive district system still persists, and 
in a number of other states, the town or township system 
prevails. As a means of providing for the establishment of 
schools the district system, as Professor E. P. Cubberley has 
pointed out, has rendered its service but the new social con- 
ditions with their attendant new educational demands have 
made such a system of school administration obsolete and 
inadequate. "It leads to a great and an unnecessary mul- 
tiplication of small and inefficient schools; the trustees (that 
is, district-school trustees usually consisting of three mem- 
bers each) frequently assume authority over matters' which 
they are not competent to handle ; it leads to marked inequal- 
ities in the length of school terms, and educational advantages ; 
and it stands to-day as the most serious obstacle in the way 
of the consolidation of rural schools." (23, p. 52). Take 
for instance, in New York state, there are now 15 schools 
with only 2 pupils each, 116 with 3 each, 357 with 5 each, 
600 with less than 7, and 3,800 with less than ten in attend- 
ance. We all know that it is absolutely impossible to main- 
tain in any district of this kind a school which comes any 
where near approaching an institution worthy of the name 
school and that the one room and one teacher with one un- 
graded class school in the rural district can not and will never 
be able to furnish to the children an educational opportunity 
adequate to meet their needs. Since the last decade, students 
of school administration have loudly preached the necessity 
of reorganizing and consolidating rural schools, but the district 
system has always stood as a stumbling block to such con- 
structive effort. In the face of reconstruction and redirec- 
tion of rural and small village education, the district must 
be replaced by a larger and better unit of organization and 
administration, that is the county. In discussing the county 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 101 

system with its consolidated schools, Professor Cubberley 
says : " With about twenty such schools (that is consolidated 
schools) to a county, instead of a hundred and fifty little 
ones, or somewhere near two thousand consolidated schools 
instead of fifteen thousand district schools to an average state, 
the whole nature of rural life and education could be re- 
directed and revitalized in a decade and life on the farm 
could be given a new meaning. Such a change would also 
dispense with the need for the service of from five to six 
thousand of the cheapest and most poorly educated of the 
rural teachers as well as of some twenty-five thousand dis- 
trict-school trustees, both of which would be educational 
gains of great importance and significance." (21, p. 255). 

With regard to the office of the county superintendent, it 
must be raised to the position of professional leadership. The 
prevailing practice of electing the county school superinten- 
dent by popular votes among the electorates and on short 
terms can not secure the best man for the office. According 
to the recent data available, we find in twenty-nine of the 
forty-one states having a county superintendent he is elected 
by the voters of the county; in eighteen of the tweny-nine 
states he is elected for two-year terms only ; and in two of 
the eighteen he is prohibited from holding the office for more 
than four years. Under such restricted conditions no one 
with professional spirit will be likely to run for such a political 
job, nor can he exercise his professional ability for the interest 
of the community within such a short tenure of office. The 
best way of reform will be to have a small county board of 
education elected by the people and this board will in turn 
select the best man for the money from the country at large 
as its chief executive officer. The latter must be endowed 
with power commensurate with his responsibility, and his 
tenure of office must be long enough to enable him to carry 
out the educational policy to a successful completion. Unless 
this is done the reorganization of rural education will be 
impossible. 

After this brief discussion of the rural school organization 
we may now come to the problems of city education. For the 
student of school administration the city school system in 
this country furnish a very unique and interesting study. In 
many respects they present some very different problems from 
those of the rural district. But the fundamental principle 
of school administration which the writer has in mind should 
have the same application; that is, the employment of an 
expert service under democratic control. 

As a rule, the city schools represent the very best systems 



102 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

of popular education in this country. Most of the progress 
made along the line of school organization and adminis- 
tration in the past fifty years has been started in the 
city. Considering the geographical situation which the city 
occupies this is quite a natural consequence. The city is the 
wealth center, so it can easily afford to have better school 
equipment, better teachers, and better educational opportun- 
ities than any rural district can provide ; and it can afford to try 
the experiments of new educational theories and practices which 
are beyond the financial possibility of the rural districts. For- 
tunate as this situation is, yet, from the standpoint of school 
efficiency, we must not be blind to its common defects and 
neglect to note its possibilities of improvement. 

First of all, let us examine the organization of the school 
boards. In commenting on the diverse organization of such 
boards in the different cities, Professor Cubberley says : 
" There is no generally established method for the creation 
of such boards, some being elected by wards, some elected 
at large, and some appointed by the mayor or some other 
appointive body, and some owing their existence to special 
charters. Many boards are large; some are small. Some 
still retain the old committtee system in full strength; some 
have only a few committees ; while a few have abolished 
standing committees entirely. Some are both legislative and 
executive bodies, the superintendent of schools being much 
in the nature of a clerk to the board ; some divide the exec- 
utive functions to a greater or less degre with this official; 
while a few cities have clearly separated the executive from 
the legislative functions, and entrust all of the former to paid 
experts, the board acting entirely as a board of control for 
the school system of the city district." (23, pp. 85-86). 

This diversity of organization and function of the school 
boards speaks well for the characteristics of a democratic 
institution, but also suggests the need of redirection and new 
adjustments. 

In the light of the experience of may cities, the tendency 
has been to reduce the size of the board and to eliminate 
the standing committees within the board. The board should 
not be so large as to be unwieldy and its members should 
conduct the duties of their office on strictly business prin- 
ciples and with ordinary business economy and efficiency. 
The large board is not only incoherent and incapable of hand- 
ling the public business with effectiveness and dispatch, but 
often serves as a chief source of corruption and local political 
conflict. Experiences have clearly shown that a school board 
of from five to nine members, varying according to the size 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 103 

of the city, is more efficient that a board of forty or fifty. 
Instead of having many standing committees, the board should 
also work as a committee of the whole in transacting all busi- 
ness of the office in order to avoid the duplication of effort, 
the multiplication of activity and the creation of small fac- 
tions within a large body, or as it were, of wheels within wheels. 
This is a common-sense principle of modern business manage- 
ment. Why not introduce it into the management of public 
education which is in every sense the greatest and the most 
important of all municipal undertakings? 

Along with this reform, the problem of having a board 
either appointed by the mayor or else selected by popular 
election should also be settled. Some of the leading edu- 
cators in this country have advocated the elective rather than 
the appointive plan because the latter often leads to bureau- 
cracy and to the mixing of city politics with the affairs of the 
school. As far as the political conditions are concerned, there 
is an element of danger in the appointive system. The mayor 
may make the appointments with particular reference to his 
party interests and may thus bring disastrous results to the 
school. But this possible danger does not weigh very heavily 
in favor of the elective system. The mayor is elected by the 
people and is responsible to the people. The appointive sys- 
tem lays a very heavy responsibility upon him personally and 
officially. For his own personal interest as well as for the 
interest of the community which he represents he must select 
the men with great care and with his best judgment. By 
his personal invitation he may be able to secure the services 
of the best representative citizens which may not be obtained 
by popular election. We must always remember that service 
in the school board is a distinct honor not a political stepping 
stone to something else. It is for this reason that the ap- 
pointive plan can secure better men for the board than popular 
election. 

Closely connected with the organization of the school board 
is the function of the school superintendent. We no longer 
question that the office of the superintendent has a very great 
potential importance. He must be a careful organizer, an 
able executive, and a sympathetic supervisor of the entire 
school system of the city. He must be the chief executive 
to carry out the legislations of the board ; he must be selected 
by the board from the country at large. His salary must be 
large enough to attract the best man available, his tenure 
must be long enough to enable him to solve some of the per- 
plexing problems, and the most important of all, he must 
be endowed with power compatible with the importance of 



104 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

his service. All these points in connection with city super- 
intendency have been advanced by the educators in the past 
ten or fifteen years, yet in many cities they are still the main 
features which remain to be desired. 

In this and the above section I have tried to point out how 
an educational system can be organized in order to secure 
expert service with democratic control, and to preserve the 
local freedom in educational matters and at the same time 
to promote the efficiency of the organization. Democracy 
and efficiency are not antagonistic to each other. The real 
problem of school organization and administration is not how 
to destroy the initiative, interest and responsibility of a local 
community, but how to develop them under national or state 
direction. If what I have said are not the best ways of solv- 
ing the problem, it behooves us to have no rest until we find 
them. 

III. Reorganization of the Elementary Education 
So far I have confined my discussion to the problems of 
administration, supervision and control of education. Now 
we may come to another important problem, that is, the re- 
organization of the elementary school itself. In this connec- 
tion I venture to point out certain considerations which seem 
to me to be essential as forming the ground work from which 
the improvement and progress of public education must pro- 
ceed. 

Compulsory attendance — First of all, the age limit for 
compulsory attendance should have a uniform increase. From 
the annual report of the Commissioner of Education, 1917, 
we find that the compulsory school attendance laws of the 
different states vary to an amazing degree. The following 
table may illustrate this point. 

PRESENT NO. OF 
AGE LIMIT STATES 
7-12 I 

7-13 I 

7-14 9 

7-15 3 

7-i6 4 

8-12 2 

8-14 8 

8-15 6 

8-i6 ii 

8-i8 i 

9-15- •• i 

No compulsory law I 

Again, the minimum period of compulsory attendance also 
shows a great degree of diversity, from 12 weeks in Virginia 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 105 

to the requirement of a full school year in more than 30 
states. 

But this does not tell the whole story of the various con- 
ditions of compulsory attendance. The length of school terms, 
the average days attended by each child from 5-18, and the 
percent of attendance for school population are all different 
in different states. The average number of days in school 
term, 1916, varied from 108.5 days in South Carolina, to 
194.3 days in Rhode Island. The average days attended by 
each child between 5 and 18 varied from 55.5 in Louisiana 
to 126.6 in California. The percent of attendance for school 
population varied from 41.18 in Louisiana to 76.09 in Montana. 
The following summary table illustrates the existing conditions 
in the different parts of the country: 

States Average number Average days Per cent of 

of days in school attended by attendance 

term, 1916 each child for school 

5-18 population 

Continental United States 160.3 91.7 57-21 

North Atlantic Division 181. 7 105.5 58.06 

North Central Division 167. 1 104. 1 62.26 

South Atlantic Division I35-I 71 -6 53-00 

South Central Division I35-I 67.4 49-91 

Western Division 167.7 107.7 64.22 

These are the actual conditions of to-day. From the stand- 
point of equal educational opportunity for all children, some 
kind of national initiative and unification can no longer be 
postponed. England has awakened to the importance of this 
problem. She has established a national system of education 
by an Act which provides that all children are to attend school 
to the age of 14, and local authorities may raise the age to 
15, and that no child is to be employed for wages if under 
12, and above that age no child is to be employed before 
or during school hours of after 8 p. m. The other provisions 
of the Act, such as the establishment of nursery schools for 
children under 6, and continuation schools for boys and girls 
between 14 and 18 who are in employment, are all calculated 
to increase the educational efficiency of the nation. America 
is the richest country in the world. Would it be too high 
a standard to maintain if the central government established 
a minimum school-leaving age of 16 years as a national re- 
quirement? To permit children to leave school before 16 
is both an educational short-sightedness and an economic waste. 
It is an educational short-sightedness because children of 
adolescent period need special care and training. It is an 
economic waste because they break off their education sud- 
denly before its results have had time to be fixed in the mind. 
Shall we let this short-sighted and wasteful policy continue ? 



106 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

However, this increase of compulsory school age will have 
a very great obstacle which calls for careful consideration. 
It is easy to make a law, but it is far more difficult to enforce 
it. Compulsory education is desirable. But the practical ques- 
tion we have to face is : Is it right to take a strong healthy 
boy between 14 and 16 years of age from money-earning 
employment and force him to attend school while by so 
doing his destitute family may be compelled to suffer from 
the lack of the elemental ncessities of life? The only answer 
to this question, consistent with the policy of compulsory 
education itself, is the proposition that the state should com- 
pensate the family with adequate financial assistance. This 
may sound very socialistic yet this is the only way of solving 
the practical problem. 

Another problem connected with compulsory attendance 
is the question of age for school entrance. Children do not 
grow with equal rate. Chronological age is not a reliable 
index for physiological development. It would be a peda- 
gogical folly to make a hard and fast rule that all children 
of six years of age must attend school, because many chil- 
dren of six are not mature enough to receive formal instruc- 
tion with profit. Sometimes too early entrance into school 
may do children more harm than good. To solve this prob- 
lem I should like to suggest that some specialists or medical 
experts be employed by every local community to determine 
the physiological age of the children before they are required 
to enter school. This is only a general principle. Detailed 
plans for carrying out this provision remain to be worked out. 

With regard to the establishment of kindergartens, I am 
of the opinion that this question should be left to the dis- 
cretion of local educational authorities. The function of the 
child is to grow. For those children who have a wholesome 
environment for growth, the kindergarten is entirely unneces- 
sary. For the city children whose homes are unsuitable for 
their normal development, the kindergarten will be a com- 
prehensive child-welfare institution of great importance if 
it is not conducted in a highly pedagogized manner. In any 
case it is the duty of the local authorities to see to it that such 
local needs are provided. 

Six-three-three Plan — Next to compulsory attendance, the 
problem of reorganizing the elementary and secondary edu- 
cation on a six-three-three plan should merit our considera- 
tion. The plan calls for an organization of a six years ele- 
mentary school, three years intermediate school or Junior 
high-school and three years high-school. If one examines 
the educational literature of the past few years, he will find 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 107 

that few problems have received as much attention as this one. 
Now, let us see what are the arguments for this new plan. 

The first argument for it is based on psychological ground. 
Boys and girls of twelve years of age are beginning to enter 
the period of early adolescence. Their inner psychic change 
seems to be very sudden and abrupt at this time, and therefore 
calls for a radical differentiation of education in order to 
meet their psychical needs. Thus in his discussion of Junior 
high-schools, Professor Charles H. Judd says: "If we turn 
from worn-out European tradition to scientific studies of 
human nature, or even to observation such as a sensible teacher 
can make, we find that it is the twelve-year-old child who is 
putting away childish things in the first flush of adolescence. 
The twelve-year-old child begins to look into the larger world. 
He begins to think of his duties to society and himself. When 
he is fourteen or fifteen he will be half through the critical 
period of adolescence. If you want to influence an adolescent 
in a large way, you must begin at twelve, not fourteen." (64, 
p. 253). 

Again, Professor C. O. Davis of Michigan says : " The 
present mode of organizing and administering educational 
work is ill grounded. The adolescent period begins usually 
at about the age of twelve years. With the dawn of this new 
period come most notable changes in physical form, structure, 
and function, and most decided concomitant psychological 
changes. At this period self-consciousness is born. The in- 
terests that formerly held dominant sway are cast aside. New 
motives stir, new aspirations fire, new goals beckon. Con- 
scious logical reason begins to proclaim itself. . . . The 
beginning of adolescence is most emphatically the beginning 
of the period of secondary education. As our schools are 
organized to-day this fact is ignored." (61, p. 69). 

But this kind of argument is not free from objection. Grant- 
ing that the theory of sudden psychical change in adolescence 
is correct, granting that the beginning of secondary education 
should coincide with the beginning of adolescence, yet the 
great variability of the age at which puberty comes would 
make any homogeneous grouping very difficult, if not im- 
possible. The very fact that the time of the onset of pubes- 
cence differs, for boys and girls and also for the members of 
the same sex would preclude any attempt to organize second- 
ary schools on this basis. (See 59). 

The second argument for this plan is that the early ending 
of the elementary education would facilitate the provision of 
vocational education for those children who do not attend 
school beyond the compulsory age. Thus Henry Suzzallo 



108 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

says : " The compulsory education law under our present 
organization gives society control of the child only long enough 
to guarantee the ablest child eight years of general training. 
It can not guarantee him the additional years of vocational 
education required to make him an efficient, self-supporting 
and self-reliant citizen. To shorten the elementary school 
to six years without impairing its efficiency is to guarantee 
every child who does not go to the high-school some voca- 
tional education." (See Bulletin No. 38, 1913, U. S. Bureau 
of Education). 

But the validity of this argument depends upon the defini- 
tion of vocational education. If vocational education is to be 
identified with the various forms of " practical arts " educa- 
tion which does not result in a definite manner of vocational 
efficiency, this argument is essentially sound. But if vocational 
education is taken to mean that form of education which 
tends to fit an individual to pursue effectively a recognized 
profitable employment, this argument has no value in the 
light of modern pedagogy, because boys and girls of twelve 
years of age are too young for specialization, and further- 
more, vocational education should be given in special voca- 
tional schools, not in such Junior high-schools as we are 
planning to have. (This problem of vocational education 
will be further discussed in a latter section of this chapter.) 

The third argument which seems to have the most weight is 
that the Junior high-school as a school unit would furnish an 
opportunity for the enrichment of the courses of study and for 
the introduction of an elective system which the pupils in the 
ordinary high-school enjoys. The uniform course of study 
for everybody, the traditional material and method of instruc- 
tion, and the promotion by grades instead of by subjects can 
no longer satisfy the children in the upper two grades of the 
elementary school. By the time the child enters the seventh 
grade his individual personality begins to express itself. He 
has become acquainted with the rudiments of knowledge. He 
has access to the rich-world of history, geography and 
elementary science. His tastes, desires, aspirations, and out- 
look upon life are different from those of his classmates. In 
other words, he is growing into an individual. School work 
becomes irksome to him, because he can not see what it leads 
to. What he gets he does not want and what he wants he 
can not get. Can we blame him for dropping out of school 
permaturely? The only remedy under such circumstances 
is to provide for him ample opportunity in getting the kind 
of education he needs under careful direction. " Equal oppor- 
tunity for all must cease to mean the same curriculum for all." 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 109 

To accomplish this the traditional type of elementary school 
is hopelessly inadequate. We must reorganize the system 
of instruction in the seventh and eight grades ; and the Junior 
high-school seems to be the logical consequence of this re- 
organization. 

The fourth argument for this plan is based on the improve- 
ment of the relations between elementiary and secondary 
education. Considering the existing conditions of to-day, this 
argument is also sound. The prevailing gulf between the 
eighth grade of the elementary school and the first year of 
the high-school must be condemned. Any agency which tends 
to make this transition easier would be a great step of ad- 
vance. The suggested six-three-three plan has proved to 
be of important service in this much desired improvement. 

In brief, the chief advantages of the six-three-three plan 
may be stated as follows: 

(1) In shortening the elementary education to six years it 
tends to eliminate the duplication of work and the waste of 
time. 

(2) The Junior high-school offers to the pupils of adoles- 
sence the freedom of the choice of studies. 

(3) It effects a considerable change in the traditional con- 
tent of subjects and methods of instruction. 

(4) It offers opportunity for prevocational work. 

According to the investigation made by C. O. Davis we 
find that in the 17 states of the North Central part of the 
country there are 300 schools which have consciously sought 
to take steps looking to the modification of the eight-four 
plan of organization in harmony with the Junior high-school 
idea; 175 of these have already incorporated enough of the 
commonly accepted characteristics of a Junior high-school 
to be entitled to bear that name; and 75 have made good be- 
ginnings. For better or for worse, the six-three-three plan 
merits an intelligent examination. 

All-year School — The All-year school is another pertinent 
question in our discussion of the reorganization of elementary 
education. The annual school term in most of the American 
cities after deducting holidays is not more than 180 days. 
In many cities and towns and in practically all rural districts 
the number of actual school days is still less. This means 
that children who are never absent attend school less than 
half the days of the year. Is this tradition worthy to be pre- 
served? In condemning the institution of long vacations, 
President G. Stanley Hall says : " During the long vacation 
of from two and half to four months or more, children's 



110 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

' forgettery ' of their school work is in very active opera- 
tion demolishing their acquirements, so that their progress is 
not unlike that of the fabled frog getting out of the well who 
climbed up three feet each day and fell back one or two each 
night." (50, vol. 2, p. 595). 

Every school superintendent knows that a month is usually 
taken at the beginning of the fall term to review pupils in 
the work of the preceding grade. Every fall the children 
must be reacclaimed, as it were, and readjusted to school. 
Is this in harmony with the principle of the economy of time ? 

Furthermore, vacations are most demoralizing for children 
and especially for those in the city. In the rural districts 
where the older children work on the farm during the sum- 
mer, long vacations are not objectionable. But even then 
the younger children should not be entirely free from the 
influence of the school. For those children who live in the 
crowded cities, long vacations are harmful both physically 
and morally. Physically because during the hot summer days 
their home environment is not always hygienic, their good 
health habits acquired in school are broken up, and they are 
beyond the influence of the school physician and the school 
nurse. Morally, because they do not have anything to do. 
They loaf at the street corners, they organize boys' gangs, 
and they often give trouble to the city police and become 
a nuisance to the community. Is this the way to care for 
the children? 

In recent years school officers and the people generally 
have begun to feel that there is no need for the very lofhg 
summer vacation and that something should be done for the 
moral and physical welfare of children. In many cities this has 
resulted in the establishment of summer schools. In a bul- 
letin (No. 45, 1917) published by the Bureau of Education 
entitled " Summer Sessions of City Schools," we find that 
there are 109 cities having summer high-schools and 211 
having summer elementary schools. In a great number of 
cities the summer session is open to any pupil who desires 
to attend; in other cities, only to those who have failed or 
to those who are exceptionally bright. The most frequent 
length of the summer session is six weeks. The school day 
is shorter than in the regular term. 

With regard to the all-year school, there are only a few 
in this country. At Eveleth, Minnesota, the all-year school 
has grown out of a summer school that has been successfully 
conducted for the past six or seven years. In Newark, New 
Jersey, two all-year schools were organized, 1912. In com- 
menting on these two schools, W. S. Deffenbaugh, the author 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 111 

of the above mentioned bulletin, says : " These two all-year 
schools (the Belmont and Seventh Avenue) proved so suc- 
cessful in every way that two other schools were organized 
on the same plan in the summer of 1915, one of these being 
the boys' industrial school. The other schools are located 
in the congested tenement districts where there is nothing 
for the children to do during the summer but loaf and fall 
into bad habits. Experience shows that under ordinary con- 
ditions all the habits of industry established during the regular 
school term are broken up and must be formed again at the 
beginning of the next term, which is a slow process and 
involves a waste of time. Common sense demands that chil- 
dren be kept profitably employed during the long summer 
vacation. The problem of street loafing in the tenement dis- 
tricts of Newark has very largely been solved by these all- 
year schools. Several policemen report that they have had 
very little trouble with gangs of boys since the establishment 
of these schools, and that there are fewer accidents in the 
streets." 

Based on the experience of many cities I wish to offer the 
following suggestions on this question : 

1. All city schools should be conducted on a four-term 
basis, with twelve weeks each. 

2. All children should be required to attend the summer 
term unless they show evidence that they will be employed 
on the farm, or their parents make special request for exemp- 
tion. 

3. The instruction periods should be shorter in the summer 
term than in any of the other terms. More time should be 
given to garden work, manual training and organized play. 

4. In the rural districts some schools should at least be 
organized on the same plan, so that children who are too 
young to do farm work can be brought under the care of 
the school. 

5. As has been mentioned in a former chapter, the school 
day should be lengthened to seven or eight hours a day and 
six days a week. At least one-third of the school day should 
be devoted to physical exercises and organized play. 

These are the possibilities and I am confident that they are 
workable. 

Elimination of the Lock-Step System of Promotion — One 
of the most perplexing and most discussed problems of public 
education is the system of promotion. The prevailing lock- 
step system of annual, semi-annual, or even quarterly pro- 
motions is unsatisfactory, because it ignores the fundamental 



112 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

principles of human nature, namely, the principle of indi- 
vidual differences. The belief that all pupils are exactly 
alike was the belief of bye-gone days. The study of human 
nature has forced upon us a new conviction and this convic- 
tion is that children are not born alike nor are they going to 
be alike. The present class system of instruction and pro- 
motion has been designed for the average child and to a limited 
extent it has been successful. But under such a system the 
gifted as well as the dull children are the chief sufferers. 
The gifted children usually do not find enough to do and thus 
acquire listless, low-pressure habits of work, while the dull 
ones can not keep pace with ordinary school progress and 
are often made to repeat a whole term's work if they fall 
somewhat behind in one or two subjects. This system be- 
comes more absurd when we think of the defective children 
who are receiving an education personally conducted and 
carefully fitted to their individual needs and abilities in special 
institutions while the super-normal and normal children are 
educated in a mass and have little personal care. Should we 
be justified in saying that our special sympathy and care for 
the defective have been wasted? I do not mean that the 
metally defective children should not be taken care of, I do 
mean that the gifted as well as the normal ones should re- 
ceive more personal attention and care, because upon their 
education and training the progress of the world civilization 
depends. 

Many attempts have been made to work out a practical 
solution for this problem of promotion. Let us see what they 
are. 

The Batavia Plan — This plan was worked out by Superin- 
tendent John Kennedy of Batavia, New York. This plan 
provides that, in classes of fifty or less, one-half of the 
teacher's time should be free from recitation work and be 
devoted to helping the pupils in their studies. The essential 
features of this plan are the decrease in the amount of class 
recitation work and the increase in the amount of individual 
study and assistance. Consequently the dull children are 
singled out for help on account of their need. 

North-Denver Plan — This plan is very similar to the Batavia 
plan. But the brighter children, instead of the dull ones, are 
given special help. 

Elizabeth Plan — This plan was originated at Elizabeth, 
New Jersey. It divides the eight grades into three or four 
sections, each progressing as fast as it is capable, and pupils 
are constantly transferred from one section to another, accord- 
ing to the teacher's judgment, without examination. Thus 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 113 

each pupil is kept at work to his full capacity and is pro- 
moted as far and as fast as his progress warrants. 

The Cambridge Plan — This is so-called double-track plan, 
because the essential feature of it is the provision of two- 
parallel courses. One is called the eight-year course for the 
average children and the other is a six-year course for the 
gifted ones, so the latter are given an opportunity to finish 
the eight-year work in six years. But this plan does not 
make very satisfactory provision for the dull children. 

The Santa Barbara Plan — This is a differentiated course 
plan which provides three parallel courses, all taking the same 
length of time but with varied content. Course C, the lowest 
groups provides just the minimum essentials of subject-mat- 
ter for the slow pupils ; Course B is an average course for 
the average pupils ; and Course A with very rich content is 
provided for the most gifted pupils. 

Portland Plan — The entire course is divided into fifty-four 
parts with eighteen terms of five months each, three-terms 
work making a cycle. The standard rate is three parts a 
term for the slow and four for the fast division children. 

The Pueblo Plan — This plan makes instruction almost en- 
tirely individual and ungraded. Small classes and small 
groups within classes are used. Every pupil, even though in 
a high-school, recites in a class by himself. The program 
of studies is made very flexible and elastic. The teacher 
goes from desk to desk and each pupil recites his lesson in a 
brief way to satisfy the teacher that he has studied the lesson. 
Thus Superintendent Search says : " The fundamental charac- 
teristic of the plan on which the schools are organized is 
its conservation of the individual. The pupil is placed purely 
with reference to where he can get the most good for himself. 
He works as an individual, progresses as an individual, is 
promoted as an individual, and as is graduated as an individual. 
. . . In brief, the school is both graded and ungraded; 
graded in so far as applies to its plan of work, but ungraded 
in its accommodation of the individual." (97). 

San Francisco State Normal School Plan — This plan has 
been in use in the San Francisco State Normal School for 
the past few years and has three distinctive features: (1) 
Pupils are promoted by subjects at any time of the year when 
they finish a half-grade's work in any subject. (2) Self- 
instruction bulletins written by the members of the normal- 
school faculty are given to the children in connection with their 
text-books so that they can study the texts without waiting 
for the lengthy elucidation from the teacher. (3) A well- 
developed system of group discussions is used for oral expres- 



114 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

sion work. These groups are different for each subject, so that 
a child discusses with a group which consists of his approxi- 
mate equals in the particular subject under discussion. His 
geography discussion group might, or might not, be totally 
different from his dramatic group; his music group would 
be still another. (113). 

The mere mentioning of these plans indicates the com- 
plexity of the problem. Its solution would probably lie in the 
direction of individual instruction, promotion by subjects, 
and the departmentalization of the courses of study. But its 
detailed plan has to be left to the ingenuity of school officers 
and teachers to work out in the practical field. 

IV. The Teacher. 

In our discussion of this new educational program we can 
not neglect the problems of how to secure a competent teach- 
ing force. Indeed, the teaching force is the very foundation 
upon which the efficiency of the school can be built. What 
goes into or goes out of the program of studies will make 
but little difference if the teacher is unequal to his task. No 
plans of reorganization of public education can be worked 
out independently of this factor. Thus Commissioner Clax- 
ton says : " The great function of democracy is to train 
teachers, as what shall be done in a school depends on a 
teacher. If teachers are not strong, the machinery is no good 
and money is wasted." Now let us see what are the problems 
we have to face. 

The Training of Teachers — It is quite obvious to every 
student of education that the chief defect of the American 
public school is the lack of professional training among 
teachers. Nearly one-fourth of all the boys and girls in the 
elementary schools are being taught by teachers with little 
or no professional training and with little general education. 
The reasons for this lamentable condition are numerous, but 
two of them are fundamental. 

The first is that teaching has not been considered as a pro- 
fession. On the average, the school teachers remain only 
four or five years in the exercise of their vocation and very 
few indeed who enter the vocation expect to make it a life 
work. Most of the new recruits in the teaching army are 
girls in their teens just out of high-school. They take up 
teaching positions not because they have interest in the work, 
but because they can not find any other thing to do. They 
do not appreciate the need of training for it because they con- 
sider teaching as provisional and as a make-shift for some- 
thing else. This is the general condition throughout the 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 115 

country Unless we can make teaching as truly a profession, 
unless we safeguard it as law and medicine are beginning 
to be safeguarded, unless we raise it to the permanence and 
dignity of a life work, we can never hope to advance very, 
far in improving the teaching force. 

The second reason for this lack of trained teachers in due 
to the inadequacy and inefficiency of the training institutions 
now existing. There are two kinds of teachers' training insti- 
tutions in this country, namely, state normal schools and city 
training schools. The former are supported and controlled 
by the state while the latter are established by some large 
cities as a means of insuring that the new teachers entering 
the elementary school shall have had some professional training 
for the work. According to the last annual report of the 
Commissioner of Education (1917), there were in the year 
of 1915-16 234 state normal schools in the country with a 
total attendance of 104,714 students and a total number of 
23,437 graduates. They differ from each other very widely 
in organization, in admission requirements, in courses of study, 
and in the modes of instruction. (65). Some make the 
graduation from a four-year high-school as an entrance re- 
quirement, while others require practically nothing- more 
than the eight-year elementary education for admission. Some 
offer three-year courses of both academic and professional 
training, while others limit their curricula to a maximum of 
two years. Some have tried to develop themselves into de- 
gree-granting colleges, while others have loudly announced 
their objections to granting degrees and confined their activi- 
ties rigidly to the training of elementary teachers. All these 
divers conditions prevent us from making any general state- 
ment, but on the whole we may say, according to the investi- 
gations made by Professors Judd and Parker, that their organi- 
zations are inefficient, their equipments are poor, their teachers 
are underpaid and over-worked, their courses of study are 
inadequate, and the number of their graduates is far from 
being sufficient in meeting the country's needs. 

On account of this inadequate supply of teachers by the 
state normal schools, a number of the large cities has estab- 
lished a local city normal school or training course, where 
the high-school graduates who desire to teach in the elementary 
schools of the city may first be given some professional pre- 
paration for the work of instruction. From the recent avail- 
able data (73) we find that all cities, with the exception of 
Minneapolis, having a population of 300,000 or more, and 
four-fifths of those having a population of more than 100,000, 
maintain normal or training schools as a part of their public- 



116 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

school system. The annual enrollment in these schools is 
more than 7,000 and the number of graduates each year is 
about 3,000. Most of the new teachers in the schools of these 
cities are taken from the ranks of these graduates. Some 
of the criticisms made against the State Normal Schools also 
find their application here. But the most serious objection 
raised against the city training school is the inevitable evil 
of " inbreeding." On account of the pecular local concep- 
tions as to the filling of places, the " home girls " are usually 
taken into the service in preference to the experienced teachers 
from outside. Dr. Edson, in his recommendations concerning 
Bridgeport, writes*: " There can be no greater misfortune to 
any school system than to have a steady inbreeding of home 
talent. The board of education should insist upon the select- 
ing of at least one-third of the new teachers each year from 
outside the city limits of from other training schools than 
the Bridgeport City Training School." (U. S. Bureau of 
Education, Bui. 47, 1914). . 

Again a very emphatic statement has been made in a recent 
Newark report. It is as follows : " I have always regarded 
the rule adopted by the board many years ago, that prefer- 
ence in appointment, whatever the relative excellence of can- 
dates, must be given to local graduates, as not in the interests 
of the school system. . . . Only upon the assumption 
that the local normal school can take any material and work 
it up into a finished product that is superior to the best pro- 
duced elsewhere could such a preference be morally or econom- 
ically justified. ... I am hoping that a more modern, 
rational, and business-like policy will sometime prevail when 
individual efficiency will become the sole test in selecting 
teachers. Now a normal-school pupil realizes that if she does 
fair work only — not her best — she is sure to graduate in good 
time and to get a position when her turn comes, ahead 
of all outsiders. Competition with other schools or with 
brighter or harder working pupils is out of question. I am 
trying to make this as plain as I can, unpopular though it 
may be in some quarters, because I feel that the children of 
the city of Newark deserve the best teachers that can be got 
for the salaries paid, utterly regardless of their nativity or 
place of abode or of the particular normal school wherein 
they have been educated." (U. S. Bureau of Education, 
Bui. 47, 1914). 

Here is the difficulty. What is the remedy? The following 
few suggestions may be offered toward the solution of this 
problem. 

1. The Federal government should take over the control 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 117 

of all teachers' training institutions of the country. When 
we come to realize that public education is a national neces- 
sity we will immediately see the anomaly existing at present 
in retaining the normal school as a state institution. The 
Federal government through its proper agency can lay down 
the minimum requirement for teachers' training, can make 
general regulations regarding teachers' appointment so that 
no untrained person is allowed to teach, and it can provide 
national support in training men and women for this impor- 
tant national service. This is fundamental. Unless this is done, 
no marked improvement can be expected in the immediate 
future. 

2. Teaching should be raised to a genuine profession by 
adequate compensation and recognition. 

3. All normal schools should be placed upon a strictly col- 
legiate basis and their entrance requirements should permit no 
admission of students who have not the general education as 
given in the secondary schools. 

4. The normal-school curricula should be reorganized on a 
four-year basis and the complete course of studies should be 
so adjusted as to include " (a) a thorough mastery of those 
subjects which the candidate will be expected to teach, (b) 
a knowledge of those technical facts, principles, laws and 
ideals which furnish insight into and guidance in the pro- 
cesses involved in teaching, and (c) the acquisition through 
actual practice of some degreee of skill in the application of 
educational principles and in the technique of the teaching 
process." (115.) 

The Selection of Teachers — No less important than that of 
training is the problem of the selection of teachers. In some 
cities the selection of teachers is placed in the hands of the 
superintendent with the approval of the school board, while 
in others the school board usurps the right of appointments 
without even consulting with the superintendent. Usually 
the school board has no definite standard to follow. Appoint- 
ments are often made with special reference to the candidates' 
residence, party and church affiliations, and family condi- 
tions. Not frequently many disreputable conflicts of local 
politics have taken place in exercising this function which 
rightly belongs to the expert executive officer of the school 
system, namely, the superintendent. The measures of reform 
in this connection are two: 

First, the selection of teachers should be placed in the hands 
of the superintendent. He is the one who is in the closest con- 
tact with the local conditions of the school. He knows better 
than any member of the school board what kinds of teachers 



118 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

are needed. He is more competent than the school board as 
a whole, no matter how it is organized, to select the fittest 
among many candidates for the teachers' positions. He is 
morally and officially responsible for the efficiency of the 
school so he is not likely to be influenced by local politics in 
making the appointments. Considering the interest of the 
school and the walfare of the children this is the only proper 
solution. 

Secondly, a professional standard should be established as 
the guiding principle for selection. For elementary school 
positions the candidate should possess the complete course 
of training given in the four-years normal school organized 
under the new plan. Experience in the practical field should 
be given the first consideration. For secondary school posi- 
tions the candidate must possess both professional and 
academic training from some accredited universities and must 
be a holder of at least a Master's degree. In the light of the 
educational progress in this country, I do not believe this 
standard is too high to maintain. 

The Salary of Teachers — We have increased the require- 
ment for training. We have raised the standard for admis- 
sion into the teaching profession. But we can not hope to 
get something for nothing. We can not induce any promising 
young man or young woman to take up the teaching profes- 
sion unless we are willing to pay the price. The present 
salary scale for teachers is wretchedly low and too low 
compared with salaries in other fields. There are nearly 
800,000 teachers in the United States. The average salary 
for them is considerably less than $600 a year. Thus, " The 
average teacher's salary at Oswego was $483 ; at prosperous 
Watertown, $525 ; at Geneva, a college seat, $549 ; and at 
Elmira, $561. By removing to Poughkeepsie, the teacher 
could command an average sum of $693 ; in Albany he could 
obtain $757 ; and in Buffalo the average rose to the dazzling 
sum of $931. In New England, always jealous of its schools, 
the average salary at Plymouth, Massachusetts, was $542, 
and at Lawrence, Massachusetts, $723 ; in Manchester, N. H., 
it was $851, and in Concord, N. H., $625. At Chester, Pa., 
the average teacher, counting his annual stipend of $478, 
can go down to the shipyards and watch workers who earn 
as much in ten weeks with their hands. Teachers at Spartan- 
burg, South Carolina, have reason for regarding the sacrifice 
of joining the army lightly; their salary average $426. At 
Charleston it was but $550. At Newport, Rhode Island, 
$633 was paid. The average salary paid in Philadelphia the 
third city of the country and one proud of its school system, 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 119 

was $859." (See School and Society, vol. 8, pp. 52-54). Do 
these figures represent fair wages in comparison with the 
high cost of living at present? 

It is true that many cities have made increases upon their 
salary scales, but the increases are far too insufficient to meet 
the increased cost of living. According to the investigation 
of Dr. J. M. Cattell the editor of " School and Society," only 
one-half of the larger cities and four-fifths of the small 
cities reported increase. Some of the largest cities did not 
make any increase at all. When an increase was made it 
was approximately 9 percent in the large cities and 12 per- 
cent in the cities of medium size. In a general way it seems 
that about one-half the teachers in the cities of the country 
had received increases in salary amounting on the average 
to about 10 percent. The average increase in salaries for 
all the teachers was consequently about 5 percent. This 
increase is too small in comparison with the increase in the 
cost of living which, measured by the prices of standard 
commodities, has doubled since the war began. How can 
we expect any capable man or woman to remain in their 
teaching positions while many other kinds of work are open 
to them, with much greater remuneration and with much 
less responsibility? 

The natural consequence of such condition is that hundreds 
of experienced teachers, men and women throughout the 
country, are resigning their positions for places in banks, 
in the government service, in the various mercantile and 
industrial pursuits, where they can get a higher pay. From 
" The School Board Journal " we learn that the state of Ohio 
is facing a shortage of teachers estimated at between 2,500 
and 3,000. Rural teachers are especially scarce and there are 
many openings for teachers of manual training, agriculture, 
science and mathematics. Michigan is also 10 percent short 
of its normal supply of teachers according to State Super- 
intendent E. L. Keeler. A list of former teachers who had 
volunteered for service was utilized, but was exhausted be- 
fore school opened. All schools are short of instructors 
and some have been prevented from opening because there 
were no teachers. President J. C. Brown, of a Minnesota 
normal school, has written to all parts of the country and 
received evidence of " an alarming scarcity of teachers, 
especially for the grades and rural schools;" it is most acute 
in the Middle West, but is felt everywhere except in New 
Jersey. 

Furthermore, this shortage of trained teachers will con- 
tinue, if no remedy is in sight. Fewer pupils are entering 



120 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

the high-schools and there is a decided falling off in the num- 
ber of high-school pupils entering the training schools for 
teachers. President Brown has ascertained by a canvass of 
normal schools that the shortage will be accentuated by the 
failure of the ordinary increments ; for 73 such institutions 
furnished him figures showing a loss of 16.9 per cent of the 
enrollment, or over 5,000 students, in the last year. We 
may hope that the return of peace may change this present 
condition, but this fond hope can only mean that we are 
incapable of coping with the difficulty and of making the 
necessary fundamental change. 

What is the necessary fundamental change? It means 
to me that the change does not lie in the sporadical increases 
of teachers' salaries here and there. What we need to-day 
is to have a minimum salary scale for all the teachers in 
the country. This scale should be high enough and with 
necessary graduations so that every teacher wherever he is, 
is guaranteed a minimum salary which will enable him to live 
decently according to his social position. I believe the Federal 
Government is the only central authority to take such a great 
step of reform. We have been trying to have minimum wage 
laws for all the industrial workers of the country. Now, 
let me here sound a note of warning. When we have minimum 
wage laws for the working men we must not forget the 
teachers. It is true that we have never had a downright 
general strike on the part of the teachers. But such a great 
educational upheaval will come, if we continue to regard 
the teacher's service as a commodity to be purchased at the 
cheapest price in the open market. 

V. Vocational Education and Continuation Schools 

Another perplexing problem which demands our special 
attention is that of vocational education. This is a problem 
which has been directly created by the modern commercial 
and industrial development. We deplore this sudden rise 
of commercialism and industrialism. We often speak of them 
as if they were something of which we should apologize. 
But whether we like them or not, they have come to stay. 
We can also be quite sure that their development will be 
accelerated after the re-establishment of peace. The prob- 
lem which concerns us to-day is how are we going to adjust 
our school system so as to meet our economical and indus- 
trial needs. 

Before discussing this problem in this country, I should 
like to mention very briefly the attempts at its solution which, 
have been made in Germany, France, and England. I men- 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 121 

tion them not because I believe that the educational theories 
and practices in those countries can be transplanted to 
America. They can not. Every nation must educate 
its own people in its own way and for its own ends. I men- 
tion them, because I think that they may throw some light 
upon the problem with regard to the adoption of means to 
an end. Let us see what they are. 

Germany— In Germany the boy in his last year of the ele- 
mentary course is given some kind of technical training 
either in the workshop attached to the school, or in other 
ways. At the same time he is encouraged to choose a voca- 
tion. Once the choice is made the authorities will see to 
it that he is apprenticed to a master workman of his pro- 
fession. Then he has to continue his apprenticeship for four 
years before he can get a journeyman's certificate. 

The system of continuation schools is common throughout 
the 26 states of the Empire. In 14 of them, attendance upon 
such school has been made compulsory. This local legis- 
lation was again fortified by an imperial legisla- 
tion adopted by the Reichstag in 1911 which provides that 
employers must, when necessary, grant regular leaves to those 
of their employees, under 18 years of age, who attend a con- 
tinuation school recognized by the local authorities or by the 
state. The law also includes institutions in which instruc- 
tion is given in feminine occupations and domestic work. 
As A. T. Smith points out: "The German system of con- 
tinuation schools is instructive to all other nations by reason 
of three principles which have been worked out gradually 
but effectively; it is universally applied: attendance is com- 
pulsory for all boys after the completion of the elementary 
school and for a large proportion of the girls; employers 
are obliged to cooperate with the state in carrying out the 
provisions of the law." 018). 

France — The modern movement for vocational education 
of the industrial class had a very early start in France. It 
was included in all the educational plans of the revolutionary 
leaders, but no marked achievement has been made. " In 
normal times about 648,000 children in France annually reach 
the age of 13 years. Of this number not more than 48,000 
continue under instruction. Recent estimates give 1,614,000 
as the number of boys between the ages of 13 and 18 years. 
Of these it is stated only 150,000 were prepared for definite 
industries." (118). To remedy this condition a bill has been 
introduced in the French Chamber of Deputies which pro- 
vides compulsory continuation education at public expense 



122 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

for all young people who have completed the required term 
of elementary education. 

The term of continuation education is divided into two 
periods. The first extends for boys to the age of 17 years, 
inclusive, and for girls to 16 years. During this period the 
minimum course of study is 50 hours for general education, 
such as lessons in the French language, history, and geog- 
raphy, 150 hours for technical training — such as lessons in 
the sciences applied to agriculture, commerce, navigation, or 
domestic economy, and 100 hours for physical training. The 
second period covers the ages 17 to 20 for boys and 16 to 18 
for girls. During this period the obligatory subjects are the 
French language, history, geography, civics, common law, 
political economy, gymnastics, and military exercises for boys 
and the French language, history, geography, domestic 
economy, manual work, and practical exercises in hygiene, 
care of the sick and infants for girls. The minimum amount 
of time for this instruction is 200 hours. It is significant to 
notice that no provisions were made to bring pressure upon 
the employers in the enforcement of the law. 

England— The new Education Act provides that all boys and 
girls under 18, except those who are under full-time instruc- 
tion or who have been educated full time to 16, must attend 
continuation schools in the daytime of 280 hours in each year, 
and their employers must release them from industry for the 
purpose. The curriculum in these schools is not to be voca- 
tional in a narrow sense, but must include literature, history 
and other subjects of general educational value. In comment- 
ing on this Act " The London Times " says : " It opens not 
only a new era in education but a new era in England." 

So much for the leading European countries, now we may 
come back to the United States. In the past ten years or so, 
there has been a wide spread movement in this country look- 
ing toward the development of industrial and vocational edu- 
cation. No one who knows the industrial and educational 
conditions of America can doubt the importance of such a 
movement. Educational statistics tell us that only half of 
the children who enter the city elementary schools remain 
to the final elementary grade, and only 1 in 10 reaches the final 
year of high-school. On the average, 10 percent of the child- 
dren have left school at 13 years of age; 40 percent have 
left by the time they are 14; 70 percent by the time they are 
15; and 85 percent by the time they are 16 years of age. 
(87). There are two million children between the ages of 
14 and 16 out of school in this country. Most of these have 
left school before the seventh grade and have never attended 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 123 

school thereafter. Their general education is very limited and 
they are thrown upon the world at the most critical period 
of adolescence. Considering these general conditions, there 
can be no doubt that the need of a system of vocational edu- 
cation and continuation schools is imperative and immediate. 

This general movement has borne out its fruit in three 
ways: (1) in the legislation of some state laws concerning 
this special branch of education, (2) in the establishment of 
vocational secondary schools in some cities, and (3) in the 
introduction of vocational subjects, in the ordinary high- 
schools. 

With regard to state legislations, quite a few states have 
already enacted laws which provide state aid for a more or 
less state-wide system of vocational education. Indiana, Mas- 
sachusetts, and Wisconsin have laws which make attendance 
upon continuation schools compulsory for children between 
ages 14 to 16 with 5 hours per week. Maine, New Jersey, 
New York and Pennsylvania have laws requiring the estab- 
lishment of continuation schools but the attendance upon 
them is entirely voluntary. According to the investigation 
conducted by the committee on vocational education of the 
National Education Association, 1916, there were 2 states 
at that time in which it was proposed to pass laws bearing 
directly upon vocational secondary edjuqation; there were 
9 states which had already passed laws aimed directly toward 
the introduction of vocational secondary education ; there were 
16 states in which the existing statutes would make the intro- 
duction of vocational secondary education permissible; there 
were 21 states in which there were no laws on the subject. 
Taking the country as a whole, the effort along this line has 
been sporadic, scattered and disharmonized and the work has 
not been very satisfactory. 

Beside the state legislation, the Federal Smith-Hughes Act 
has tended to unify and strengthen the disjoined efforts at 
vocational education of the different states. As this law is 
not yet in its full working order, its effect still remains to be 
seen. 

The second result of this general movement for vocational 
education — that is, the establishment of vocational secondary 
schools in some large cities — may be best illustrated by a 
number of technical arts high-schools, such, as the Indiana- 
polis Manual Training High School, the Crane and Lane 
Technical High Schools of Chicago, the Cleveland Technical 
High School, the Boston High School of Commerce, the Wash- 
ington Irving Technical High School for Girls of New York 
City, and the Boys' Trade Schools of Worcester. The organ- 



124 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

ization and the curricula of these schools are all different 
from each other, but their general aim is to prepare youth, 
boys and girls, for a definite vocation and for industrial 
citizenship. (See 61, pp. 420-422). 

Another slightly different type of vocational high school is 
found in the part-time high schools of Fitchburg, Beverly, 
and Quincy, Mass. The first use of the part-time plan in 
this country was by the Engineering Department of the Uni- 
versity of Cincinnati in 1906. It has since been put into oper- 
ation in the high schools of the above mentioned cities. The 
essential features of this plan may be briefly stated as fol- 
lows (1) The complete course is four years; (2) the first 
year is entirely devoted to high school subjects; (3) in the 
following three years the work alternates between shop and 
school; and (4) the boys are paid the wages of an apprentice 
for the time spent in the shop, being 10 cents an hour the first 
year at work, 11 cents an hour in the second year, and 12 
cents an hour in the third year. It has been claimed that this 
plan has worked very satisfactorily both to the boys and 
their employees; the boys who complete the course are both 
practical and theoretical machinists, and the employers, on 
account of the increased interest and efficiency of the boys 
at work, find that they do not lose by allowing two boys to 
take turns at the job. 

All these plans are well and good. The only limitation of 
them is that they are adapted to those who can afford to go 
to the four year vocational secondary school, either full time 
or half time, and to those whose only trouble is that they 
are uninterested in regular academic work. For those who 
have to leave school as soon as the compulsory attendance 
law can not hold them, these plans can offer them no help. 
Yet they are the very ones for whom continuation education 
must be provided. 

The third result of the vocational education movement as 
manifested by the introduction of vocational subjects side 
by side with the ordinary or academic course in the high 
schools is open to many objections. In the first place, no 
real vocational education can be effectively given in the 
ordinary high school. The aim of vocational education is 
to fit an individual to pursue effectively and efficiently a 
recognized calling, and thus its means and methods should 
be so selected as to meet all the requirements of the occupa- 
tion itself. Suppose a boy wants to be a machinist, his voca- 
tional education should not only consist of learning the theories 
of the special mechanical work he is going to pursue, but also 
of the practical training which will enable him to become 



REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 125 

a master workman. The school shops should be organized on 
a basis that will approximate very closely the commercial 
shops and their work should be made as largely productive 
as possible. This involves equipment that goes entirely be- 
yond the usual school-shop equipment. High-schools as now 
organized do not have the ability nor the means to give ade- 
quate training for different vocations, and thus turn out skill- 
ful workmen for every trade. He is a poor student of edu- 
cation if one thinks that vocational efficiency can be attained 
from the study of nicely bound books in the class-room of a 
democratic high-school. Professor John Dewey in his "Moral 
Principles of Education " has related the following story 
to illustrate the absurdity of the bookish vocational education. 

Thus he says : 

" There is a swimming school in a certain city where youths 
are taught to swim without going into the water, being re- 
peatedly drilled in the various movements which are neces- 
sary for swimming. When one of the young men so trained 
was asked what he did when he got into the water he laconic- 
ally replied : Sunk." 

High schools which try to give vocational and general edu- 
cation at the same time can not do better than this kind of 
swimming school. 

In the second place, vocational training will inevitably 
decrease the efficiency of the general education which should 
be the chief aim of the high-school. Broadly speaking, the 
high-school in a democracy is the " people's university " and 
should be conducted as such. Its principle function is to 
train for citizenship, not for workmanship, to train for in- 
telligence and character, not for narrow industrial efficiency. 
Subjects, such as manual training, domestic science, etc., 
should be taught as a part of the general education, not as 
a preparation for any special form of employment. To try 
to do two things at once would mean a sure failure for both. 
We must have the aim and purpose of a high school clearly 
in mind in our selection of means and method. Vocational 
public schools for each and every one of the many hundred 
vocations now existing, we must have, but we must not 
sacrifice the proper function of the high-school for a half 
way compromise. 

Perplexing as this problem is, yet according to the plans 
suggested in this chapter for the reorganization of the ele- 
mentary and secondary schools, I venture to make the fol- 
lowing suggestions towards its solution. 

1. A broad program of industrial arts education should be 
offered in the intermediate school or junior high-school, so 



126 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

as to enable the pupils to find out their own interests, aptitudes, 
and abilities along different vocational lines. This study of 
industry should be a part of the general 'education and should 
be adapted to both the pupils who expect to enter industry 
and those who do not. The general nature of this study 
should be to provide opportunities for developing dexterity, 
for cultivating ability of handling tools and machines, and 
for unfolding the innate interest which each individual child 
may possess. 

2. Special vocational public schools should be established 
for those who expect to leave school as soon as they reach 
the age of 16 and to enter upon a wage-earning employment. 
The curricula, the methods of instruction and the length of 
training of these schools must be worked out according to 
the requirements of the vocations to be taught. This inten- 
sive vocational training should take place during the last year 
of the compulsory age. Under this system no boy or girl can 
leave school without learning a trade. 

3. The attendance upon continuation schools should be made 
compulsory for all boys and girls in actual employment be- 
tween ages 16 and 18. The employers should be required 
to release their juvenile employees for such attendance with- 
out reducing the regular pay. The curricula of such con- 
tinuation schools should not be based upon narrow vocational 
lines, but should be broad enough to include physical and 
general education as well as vocational training. The recent 
British Education Act and the French Education Bill offer 
ample illustrations on this point. 

In concluson, I may say that we are in the dawn of a new 
day, and in this new day we must depend upon the public 
schools not only for reorganizing and restoring what we had, 
but also for building and establishing a new civilization consist- 
ent with the coming new world order. In a word, the func- 
tion of the public school it not to duplicate old successes or 
old failures but to mark a new era in the training of youth. 
If there is any prejudice with regard to the public school 
administration which ought to be banished, let us banish it 
right now. America is leading the world in international 
politics, will she assume the responsibilty of leadng the world 
in the field of public education? 



CHAPTER VI. 

REORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS 
AFTER THE WAR 

Next to the reorganization of the public school system, to 
which the last chapter was devoted, the problem of reorganiz- 
ing the public school programs should also merit our intelligent 
examination. Indeed, the success and the effectiveness of our 
educational endeavor can not rely upon the efficiency of our 
school system and administration alone without carefully 
formulated programs, or courses of study, based on a sound 
educational doctrine. Nor can we advance very far in our 
educational reform without giving a definite answer to the 
often asked question: What should the school teach? To 
answer this question is the main theme of this chapter. 

I. Guiding Principles of Program-Making • 
The guiding principles of program-making are two-fold. 
First, a good program must meet the needs of the child. 
Everything in the entire system of instruction must be con- 
ditioned by the nature and needs of the child, instead of 
adjusting the child to the school. Secondly, a good program 
must meet the needs of the society. In educating the child, 
society determines its own future in determining that of the 
child. Since the child of to-day will become the citizen of 
to-morrow, his activities must be so directed and his instruc- 
tion and training must be so safeguarded as to be in harmony 
with the best interests of the social group of which he is a 
member. From the naturalistic point of view of education, 
these two principles are antithetical. They oppose each other, 
because one emphasizes the natural development of the in- 
dividual and the other social efficiency. But in reality this 
is not the case. The function of education is to provide a 
wholesome environment for the unlimited, free, complete and 
harmonious development of all the powers within the indi- 
vidual through participation in those activities which have 
a direct bearing upon social progress. If this definition of 
education can be used as a working hypothesis, then natural 
development and social efficiency are the two factors which 
have an intimate connection with each other. They are two 
sides of the same shield, as it were, and can not be separated 

127 



128 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

without making the function of education incomplete. The 
lack of the one means the one-sidedness of the other. No 
one can attain the fullest development of all his capacities 
without contributing to, and participating in the rich and 
various experiences of society ; nor can he be socially effici- 
ent in the strict sense of the word without having a continuous 
and normal growth of his natural endowment. The separation 
of the two as the two goals, or aims, or ends of education is 
fatal to democracy. Now let us see what are the reasons for 
this apparent antithesis between natural development and social 
efficiency and how a reconciliation between them can be 
effected. 

In the first place, the antithesis between these two aims 
of education rests upon the fallacious conception of natural 
development. Naturalism in education was originated as a 
protest against the conventionality and artificiality of the 
scholastic method and the formal, false, hypocritical, super- 
ficial, and selfish life under the cloak of civilization of the 
eighteenth century. It has done a noble service to the cause 
of education by giving a wide meaning and great significance 
to the doctrine of " education according to nature ;" but we 
would commit a great error if we make nature as an end 
in itself. Rousseau was absolutely right in saying that we 
receive our education from three sources, nature, man, and 
things, or in modern phrases, the development of innate abil- 
ities, the influence of the teacher, and the influence of the 
environment. When the training received from these three 
sources is not harmonized, the individual is badly educated. 
Only when these three kinds of education are consonant, 
cooperative, and make for the same end does adequate develop- 
ment of the individual occur. But he was unquestionably 
wrong when he applied his negative and naturalistic prin- 
ciples to the education of an imaginary pupil by the name 
Emile " from the moment of his birth up to the time when, 
having become a mature man, he will no longer need any 
other guide than himself." To him nature is both a con- 
dition and an end of individual development, and harmony 
in education is obtained by subordinating the education of 
man and of things to that of nature. The fallacy of this 
point of view is obvious for two reasons. First, it eliminates 
the most precious social heritage which every young member 
of the society shares in common. Rousseau would have a 
child to be in no contact with civilization whatsoever, because 
civilization itself is an unnecessary evil. The child may do 
any thing that his natural instincts dictate. He is to have 
neither instruction nor training because both instruction and 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 129 

training imply the conscious and careful direction on the 
part of the adult. In other words, every young savage must 
remain a savage except what his natural" impulse may lead 
him to If this view is correct, why should a child be taught 
the rudiments of learning, such as reading, writing and cipher- 
ing for they are the products of civilization. Secondly, this 
point of view takes for granted that natural development can 
attain its fullest degree without the social environment which 
directs, enhances, and accelerates the normal growth . This 
essentially ignores the laws of use and disuse and the laws 
of learning. Man is a social being. In a democratic society 
he is a unit in himself, but is still a part of a larger unit, 
the social group. His complete self-realizaiton can only be 
achieved through the process of socialization which in- 
volves participation in the activities of the social group to 
which he belongs. Thus Prof. John Dewey says : (31, p. 133) 
"As a matter of fact, the native activities develop, in contrast 
with random and capricious exercise, through the uses to 
which they are put. And the office of the social medium is, 
as we have seen, to direct growth through putting powers to 

the best possible use The natural, or native, 

powers furnish the initiating and limiting forces in all edu- 
cation; they do not furnish its ends or aims. There is no 
learning except from a beginning in unlearned powers, but 
learning is not a matter of the spontaneous outflow of the 
unlearned powers." 

Nor was Rousseau right in saying that "everything is 
good as it comes from the hands of the Author of Nature, 
but everything degenerates in the hands of man." He thinks 
that the natural man is complete in himself and he is always 
good if he is uncontaminated by social civilization, while a 
civilized man always lives in a state of slavery. This point 
of view has no validity in the light of modern psychology. 
First, man is what he becomes. He is neither good nor bad 
by nature, but he may be good or bad according to the en- 
vironment in which he happens to be born or according to 
the kind of education he happens to receive. Secondly, the 
original nature of man is not anti-social or non-social. Man 
as a solitary animal is unknown to us. Modern psychologists 
have told us that the herd instinct is a primitive and funda- 
mental quality in man, second in importance only to food 
and sex instincts. The very existence of man depends upon 
his gregarious instinct. His mental and spiritual being can 
never become complete if he detaches himself from the activ- 
ities of his social group. Social arrangements are not the 
external expedients by which one can live in order and peace, 



130 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

but they are the chief agencies through which one can attain 
his self-perfection and complete self-realization. 

The second reason for the antithesis between natural de- 
velopment and social efficiency is due to the narrow and 
nationalistic conception of the latter. According to this con- 
ception social efficiency means literally the complete subordi- 
nation of the individual to the superior interest of the group 
which is represented by the modern state. The individual as 
an individual means nothing and the state is everything. 
Education is merely a kind of civic function which perpetu- 
ates and strengthens the institutional ideals of the state. It 
is a disciplinary measure by which the selfish and egoistic 
individuals may be subordinated, and molded according to 
the pattern furnished by institutions, customs and laws. An 
individual is only a cell in a body politic, a bee in a hive, in 
which he lives, moves and has his being, so his education 
must be such as to crush his individuality for the sake of the 
state, which is omnipotent and all-mighty, and embodies all 
that is good, beautiful and true. But this peculiar concep- 
tion of social efficiency can hardly fail to call out a protest. 
Indeed, it has been tried and its result has been extremely 
pernicious to world civilization. When I say this, I have a 
typical representative of this ideal particularly in mind, that 
is, Germany. Immediately after the Napoleonic war, the 
German states felt that their best means of salvation was 
education and they hoped that through their systematic atten- ' 
tion to education they would be able to achieve political 
and industrial regeneration. Throughout the past century 
they have deliberately carried out their ideals of the state into 
their educational system with an amazing degree of success. 
Now what is its result ! 

From the example of Germany we can say that to realize 
the nationalistic conception of social efficiency as an edu- 
cational aim will at least yield three dangerous results. 
First, it inevitably considers man as a cog of a machine and 
treats him as such. He must be trained to do his work. He 
must be industrially efficient to earn his own living. Con- 
sequently, the aim of such an educational system tends to 
promote the physical well-being of the individual, but this 
is done at the expense of his spiritual being as a free man. 
Civilization thus created is exactly the kind which justifies 
Rousseau's scratching condemnation, when he says : " Civilized 
man is born, lives, and dies in a state of slavery; at his birth, 
he is sewn up in swaddling clothes, at his death, he is nailed in 
a coffin ; so long as he preserves the human form he is fettered 
by different institutions." Secondly, such an ideal of social 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 131 

efficiency tends to create social classes living and moving 
in different planes. One's development is not conditioned 
or determined by his native capacity, but by the social posi- 
tion in which he is born. If he happens to be born in a 
poor family, he is very likely to remain as a member of a 
laboring class. He has very little opportunity to attain his 
complete development and to better his position. In other 
words, his education and training are largely determined by 
the accident of birth. To some extent, he is given quite an 
adequate industrial training, but such a training is merely 
a means of carrying out the comprehensive state purpose. 
Thirdly, such an ideal also tends to accentuate national 
egoism. Since the state is made supreme, and every individual 
has to subordinate his own interest to that of the state, it 
is quite natural for the state to justify any means for an 
end which is its own welfare- and well-being. According 
to such a political ideal the function of education is to supply 
patriotic citizens, soldiers and officers to carry out an aggres- 
sive policy of expansion at the expense of any other nations 
or peoples. All these defects of the extreme conception of 
social efficiency have been amply illustrated by the example 
of Germany, and we have no reason to encourage their per- 
petuation. 

We have seen the reasons for the apparent antithesis be- 
tween natural development and social efficiency, and we 
have also seen that the extreme view of either one of them 
is not only unacceptable as a sound educational doctrine, 
but also detrimental to a democratic civilization, if it is 
carried out to its logical conclusion. To leave everything to 
nature means the negation of the very idea of education, 
because it is to trust the bringing up of the young according 
to the accidents of circumstances. On the other hand, if we 
conceive social efficiency as a mere subordination of the 
individual in order to attain social coherency and stability, 
we are likely to consider education as a means of social control 
and impose an artificial standard or limitation upon the indi- 
vidual development. With this in mind, the reconciliation 
of these two aims of education is not far to seek. Educa- 
tion, to use the Kantian phrase, is a process by which man 
becomes man, a social man. Complete self-realization is 
impossible, if one remains in isolation from his fellow-men. 
Nature furnishes the germs of personality, and it is the 
function of education to develop and perfect them. The 
process of development and perfection is not to be found in 
the realm of nature on account of the imperfection of our 
social civilization, but in the active and efficient participation 



132 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

in the social activities which are themselves in the process 
of perfection. Social efficiency in its broadest sense means 
nothing more nor less than the ability of sharing and enriching 
our existing civilization. The one who is completely social- 
ized is the one who is completely developed. Natural develop- 
ment and social efficiency are inseparable in our conception 
of education. The pursuance of the one to the neglect of 
the other is inconsistent in logic and impracticable in 
practice. 

Similarly, the antithesis between cultural and scientific aims 
of education seems also more superficial than real. Accord- 
ing to the common usage of these terms, the former values 
classic scholarship, while the latter values industrial train- 
ing; the former emphasizes the study of ancient languages, 
while the latter emphasizes the study of modern sciences ; 
the former prepares the child for the life of leisure, while 
the latter prepares him for vocation in an industry. The 
conflict between these two aims has been long and serious. 
But according to the definition of education as described above, 
the existing educational tradition which opposes the study 
of natural sciences to the study of " humanities " has no 
justifiable ground. The studies of science and literature are 
merely the means of education, not education itself. The 
quarrel between the representatives of the two interests is 
largely due to the narrow conception of culture and their 
ignorance of the larger aim in education. 

In the first place, a genuine cultural education is much 
broader than classic scholarship. To set classic studies in 
opposition to the study of science is to limit the scope and 
to hamper the progress of liberal education. There is no 
greater folly in the educational practices than the identification 
of the " humanities " exclusively with the knowledge of Greek 
and Latin. To know the classical languages of the Greeks 
and Romans well enough as to be able to appreciate their 
civilization, such as philosophy, science and arts, from the 
original sources constitutes a liberal education of a very high 
order. But to regard Greek and Latin as par excellence the 
humane studies is nothing but a proof of pedantry or classical 
obsession in the highest degree. The elements which now 
enter into culture are very different from those of the Re- 
naissance. The men of the Renaissance had to return more 
or less exclusively to the civilization of the Greeks and Romans 
to study and to emulate, but our cultural achievements have 
advanced enormously in the past few hundred years. " New 
literatures have developed to vie with those of the Greeks 
and Romans ; the arts have been perfected beyond the dreams 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 133 

of the imagination of those ages ; the new sciences have been 
created and there now exists a knowledge of nature and of 
her forces that in comparison with the interpretaton of pre- 
ceeding centuries seems most exhaustive and positive." We 
need a new humanism. A mere knowledge of the classical 
languages constitutes a far too narrow and inadequate cul- 
tural education. 

In the second place, the knowledge of sciences, natural and 
social, is an indispensable factor in the culture of our modern 
times. Science is organized and tested human experience. 
The history of natural scienses is the history of the con- 
quest of nature by human intelligence. The content of the 
social sciences is the written record of the complex activities, 
interests, and forces of modern social life. To know some- 
thing about them is a knowledge, no matter how superficial 
it may be, which is thoroughly humanistic in quality, and 
which is even more humanistic than the mere knowledge of 
classical literature. 

In the third place, even modern vocational education is not 
inconsistent with the ideal of liberal education. Any kind 
of education is liberalizing, if we always bear in mind that 
" the educational center of gravity is in the cultural or 
humane aspects of the subject." The great body of. facts, 
laws, and principles of any vocation are of both humanistic and 
occupational value, not to say that vocational education often 
involves the training of the senses, the hands, and the coordi- 
nation of the muscles, which is an essential part of a sound 
general training. Furthermore, the broad outlook and the 
vast surface of contact between each calling and the life of 
the community and the world are the things which proper 
vocational education provides, but which classical education 
neglects. In a word, vocational studies, if properly conducted 
and organized, have an intrinsic liberalizing value in them- 
selves. 

Considering education as a process which enables an indi- 
vidual to attain his complete self-realization as a social being, 
we can see very clearly that there can be no cultural and 
scientific aims of education distinct from each other. The 
studies of science, and of history and literature are merely 
the means of realizing our educational aim. They all tend 
to orientate an individual into the realm of broad human 
interest and to help him to appreciate the significance of 
human activities and relations. They supplement, rather 
than oppose each other. They are reciprocally interdepend- 
ent rather than contradictory. Therefore, an education that 
constitutes a liberal preparation for present life must include 
them both. 



134 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

Coming back to our guiding principles of program mak- 
ing ; I have already said at the beginning that a good program 
of instruction must meet the needs of both the child and 
society, and I have also endeavored to show, although very 
briefly on account of lack of space, how the ideals of natural 
development and social efficiency are not opposed to each 
other. Our next problem is : How shall we know the nature 
and needs of the child and how shall we adjust our school 
programs so as to develop him as a social being? 

The answer to the first part of the question is that we must 
study the child and find out what he is. We must go back 
to first principles to find the solution of the most funda- 
mental problems of human nature and character. We must 
understand the psychic life, the deeper springs of human be- 
havior, of the child in order to adjust our pedagogic means. 
Thus psychology and higher pedagogy are one and insepar- 
able. Our knowledge of the child will be the best safeguard 
against many of the possible errors of education. 

The movement of child study in this country was first 
started by President G. Stanley Hall about thirty odd years 
ago. He has approached the problem from a genetic point 
of view and tried to coordinate the development of child- 
hood and youth with that of the race. He has held that the 
child and the race are each keys to the other and pinned 
his faith on the conviction that only through the genetic study 
of human nature can we hope to find " true norms against the 
tendencies to precocity in home, school, church, and civiliza- 
tion generally, and also to establish criteria by which to both 
diagnose and measure arrest and retardation in the individual 
and the race." In an address delivered at Pittsburg, July 
4th, 1918, in commeration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of 
the Child Study Department of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, President Hall says (46, pp. 316-317): "From no 
other standpoint has it been so clear that in the study of child- 
hood is the key to all our knowledge of human nature. To 
understand the psychic life of the child is first of all to under- 
stand all the deeper springs of activity in adult life, even 
those that make men and women great or make them criminal 
or insane, for here human nature is laid bare to its roots. 
Again, the child is the key to the study of primitive man 
and savages. Much of the most important literature in the 
whole field of genetics in recent years has consisted in point- 
ing out the childish traits in savages and the savage traits 
in children. Even our forebears who dwelt in caves lived 
their lives, were wise or foolish, good or bad, sound or un- 
sound in soul according to these rubrics. Indeed, even the 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 135 

higher animals in their fundamental instinctive activities can 
be thus better understood. In this field, too, are to be found 
the very best psychological explanations of war, its causes 
and the basal impulses that it unleashes. In fine, the more 
clearly we see that the unconscious or racial factors of the 
human soul are older, vaster, stronger than the conscious, 
just to that degree do we realize that the psychology of the 
future is to be genetic ; for the best definition possible of 
anything in the world -to-day is a plain description of the 
stages by which it has been evolved." 

This somewhat extended quotation gives President Hall's 
view of psychogenesis more clearly than would a similar 
amount of exposition. Child study tends to trace human 
nature to its beginnings and it is therefore inseparable from 
the study of the childhood of the race and of the primitive 
man. In the past few decades the psychogenetic study has 
already revealed to us many psychic mechanisms which lay 
the foundation of character and conduct of later life. The 
very fact that the mainsprings of human behavior are to be 
found in the first triennium or quadrennium of life gives us 
hope that the long-hoped-for science of man may be finally 
established by the synthetic study of the early childhood. It 
is a promised land of research. It is a very important branch 
of knowledge which any true student of pedagogy can ill 
afford to ignore. 

Another line of study which has made notable contribu- 
tions to paidology is psychoanalysis. In the past decade 
or so thousands of clinic cases have been studied by the ana- 
lytic method and it has been found that many of the mental 
disturbances could be traced to infantile years. The psy- 
choanalysts have told us that the infantile in us is the uncon- 
scious and the unconscious includes most of what we call 
instincts, feeling^, sentiments and emotions which largely 
determine our character and career in the adult life. To be 
sure, most of the psychoanalytic studies have been made 
upon abnormal individuals of different ages, and we should 
have a very grave doubt about the desirability and possibility 
of applying the same method to the study of normal childen. 
Yet our knowledge of the various kind of mental abnormal- 
ities has thrown much light upon the nature and needs of the 
child, to which all the school activities must be adjusted. 

The third line of approach in child study is the develop- 
ment of the so-called intelligence tests. Since Binet-Simon 
published their mental tests for children in 1908, scores of 
revisions and new tests have been developed. Accordihg to 
the claims of the representatives of the intelligence-tests 



136 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

school, we can now talk with a very large degree of definite- 
ness of the psychological age, or intelligence age, or intellig- 
ence quotient. But the study of this kind is a study of aver- 
ages, a method study which tries to measure the individual 
child by an artificial standard or norm. Even the word " in- 
telligence " has not been clearly defined. What the intellig- 
ence-tests test we are by no means certain. Granting that 
intelligence can be taken to mean the general ability of adap- 
tation, we may still doubt whether or not such general ability 
can be studied in such a mechanical manner, not to say the 
psychic life of the child which is far beyond the possibility 
of the intelligence test to reveal. 

Finally, the fourth line of child study is the development 
of many scales, standards, and tests of proficiency in the 
different school subjects, such as Thorndike's hand- writing 
scale, Trabue's completion tests, and various kinds of arith- 
metic scales, etc. All these represent a good deal of statistical 
skill and ingenuity. They give us a pretty accurate knowledge 
of the attainment of the child tested in certain school subjects 
at a certain school grade. They help classify the child with 
regard to school promotions according to his scholastic achiev- 
ments. But their value is limited to the measurement of school 
products only. They serve to test the efficiency of school 
instruction, rather than to study the psychic life of the child. 

So much for the various attempts of child study. With 
regard to the problem of adjusting school programs to the 
needs of the child as a social being, the following general 
factors may be briefly indicated. 

1. School education must lay special emphasis upon the 
hygiene of the child. Throughout the entire period of child- 
hood no need is greater than that of a wholesome environment 
for health and growth and no branch of education is more 
important than the inculcation of hygienic habits. Hygiene 
is the " religion of the body." It is a thing of which every 
school man knows its importance for the child, yet for which 
little has been done. Prof. William H. Burnham says : " If 
we can not agree on the aims of elementary education, let 
us make health as an aim, for no normal development can 
be had without special care for the health and vigor of the 
body." 

2. School education must recognize the factor of individual 
differences. Children are not born equal in natural gifts. 
Their interests, tastes, and capacities are all different, so 
education must adjust itself to meet their different needs. In 
condemning the scholastic method, Rousseau says : " Each 
individual is born with a distinctive temperament 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 137 

We indiscriminately employ children of different bents on the 
same exercises ; their education destroys the special bent and 
leaves a dull uniformity. Therefore, after we have wasted 
our efforts in stunting the true gifts of nature we see the 
short-lived and illusory brilliance we have substituted die 
away, while the natural abilities we have crushed do not 
revive." 

3. Education must supply the stimuli which will enable 
children to do their very utmost. We know very well that 
our latent capacities as individuals are far beyond our regular 
achievements and, as a rule, we remain far below what we 
can do. Ordinarily we use only a very small fraction of our 
energy and excuse ourselves by suggesting the imaginary 
factor of mental fatigue and our incapability of further exer- 
tion. We very seldom have the opportunity to experience the 
phenomena of second breath and have always kept our re- 
served energy intact. Our happy-go-lucky attitude towards 
work is largely the product of our early training. Once a 
sluggish habit is formed, we often find it difficult to eradicate. 
Heaven only knows what we would be able to do, if we could 
tap our reservoirs of energy which nature gives us ! To 
my mind, it is one of the chief functions of education to train 
the will-power, to inculcate the habit of hard work in the 
child, so that the best in him may be utilized and developed. 

4. An ideal education must teach the child the right thing 
in the right way at the right time. Interests wax and wane. 
Capacities bud and bloom with a great degree of irregularity. 
We must strike when the iron is hot. In a normal child there 
is at about every moment of its life some special disposition 
or diathesis which is just ripe for the development of perma- 
nent interest. Education would do wonders, if the school man 
could only make the most of every dawning power of the 
child at the proper season. Growth, mental as well as physical, 
is never general. It is the fortunate duty of the school teacher 
to recognize and utilize the dynamic value of the enormous 
differences of natural growth and make education most 
effective. 

5. An ideal education must meet the demands of society 
by adopting its means and methods to the changing needs 
of a progressive civilization. Man is a being whose experi- 
ence is social. Education is not to make him unsocial but 
more social. The more socialized he is the better. His social- 
ization does not lie in the passive receptivity of what society 
has to offer, but in the active participation of social experi- 
ence which needs constant modification and enrichment. He 
must be a good citizen, an independent and self-supporting 



138 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

citizen. Through his individual contribution the life of the 
society will be made richer and fuller, no matter how small 
his contribution may be. It is through this kind of cumulative 
individual efforts that social) progress, change, and development 
are made possible. Hence an ideal education must acquaint 
the child with his material and social environment, in order 
that every avenue to knowledge may be opened to him, and 
his ability to discharge his duties and to enjoy his privileges 
may be fully prepared. 

6. An ideal education must provide training for both voca- 
tion and avocation, or, in a still more common phrase, for 
labor and leisure. The basis of our modern civilization is 
economic, and we must have trained and skillful industrial 
workers in order to maintain and to promote the material 
prosperity of the nation. Consequently vocational training, 
or, training for labor, is absolutely essential in our modern 
education. But, on the other hand, if we set vocational train- 
ing and liberal learning in sharp antagonism to each other, 
we tend to create two distinct classes, the industrial workers, 
or the people of labor, and the " educated proletariats," or 
the people of leisure, in our social order. To avoid this social 
danger is a baffling problem for education. In my opinion, 
the solution lies in the middle ground. For those who are 
preparing for some special callings of life we must see to it 
that a sound general training is provided so as to enable them 
to gain and to enjoy leisure ; while for those who are prepar- 
ing for a higher intellectual life we must provide ample oppor- 
tunities for the training of their motor powers, so as not to 
permit them to escape the discipline and advantage of labor. 
Vocation without avocation makes work itself a drudgery, 
while avocation without vocation will do the individual infin- 
itely more harm than good. 

II. Content of a Good School Program 

In the last section I have dealt with the guiding principles 
of program-making, and I have also indicated six main factors 
which are of fundamental importance in an ideal education. 
Bearing these points in mind, we may now discuss some of 
the most essential subjects which must be included in the 
curriculum. 

Hygiene Instruction and Training. I mention this first, 
because this is the most important part of education for which 
the public school must bear a greater share of the responsibility 
than any other educational agency of the country. Without 
normal physical development, health and vigor, education is 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 139 

but an empty word. That the ill-fed, under-nourished, and 
physically defective children can not profit by instruction is 
a commonplace truism, yet many school men do not realize 
the importance of this fact nor appreciate the serious con- 
sequences of neglect in this matter. The very fact revealed 
by the organization and training of the national army that 
an undue proportion of the young men of drafted age was unfit 
for military service on account of ill-health or physical defects 
shows very clearly the failure of public education in the past 
and the task yet to be done in the future. Now let us see 
what are the measures of remedy. 

First of all, special emphasis must be placed upon the in- 
struction and training in personal hygiene. Copious literature 
now exists concerning the importance of inculcating health 
habits in the child during his impressionable and plastic 
period of life. This is important, but it need not be repeated 
here again. What I wish to mention in this connection are 
the one or two things which have not received adequate 
attention commensurate with their significance. These are: 

1. Sex-hygiene. — That this is the most important, delicate, 
and at the same time the most neglected part of hygiene in- 
struction, no one can doubt. It is important, because it con- 
cerns the most vital interests of the individual and the future 
of the race; it is delicate, because social conventionality has 
compelled the individual to conceal the facts in this field and 
its instruction requires a good deal of hard and strenuous 
common sense; it is neglected, because parents, in most cases, 
are not intelligent enough to tell the children anything about 
sex-life, clergymen do not wish to say anything about it, and 
school teachers are often not permitted to teach it. Silence 
in this matter has been the policy in the past and is still the 
policy of to-day. Shall we continue this policy of reticence? 

According to the conception of education discussed at the 
beginning of this chapter, the instruction in the department 
of sex— hygiene can no longer be tabooed, because it is the need 
both of the individual and of the society. It is the need of 
the individual, because sex is the most imperious and all- 
pervading instinct in man. Ignorance of sex life has often 
led to the creation of many cases of neurosis, psychosis, and 
other kinds of mental disturbance in the adolescent youth 
Thousands of clinic cases which have been studied by psy- 
choanalytic method are traceable to the abnormalities of early 
sexual life. Some people think that the study of sex organs 
and functions should begin in plants, and that thus the desire 
of learning is stimulated and sexual curiosity given an intel- 
lectual direction. Others think that young people should not 



140 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

remain mystified by sex and build their own air castles, be- 
cause secret brooding in this matter forms an effective in- 
cubation of morbid impulses. Whatever may be the reason, 
no one who has made a careful study of child life would 
question the importance of such instruction. Silence can 
not solve the problem, for no one can keep real live children 
from getting sex knowledge from the vulgar and undesir- 
able sources. Prof. Bigelow in his recent book on sex edu- 
cation has related a true story to illustrate this point. Thus 
he says : " A few years ago the mothers of a group of little 
girls in one of the best managed private schools felt that with 
careful supervision both in school and home there was no 
danger of forbidden knowledge reaching the children. But 
one day a new pupil innocently exhibited to her mother a 
miniature notebook with unprintable notes on sex topics. 
The resulting investigation revealed a secret club organized 
by the pupils for the purpose of passing to each member 
through notebooks all newly acquired information, which 
had a peculiar value because it must be kept secret from 
teachers and parents. That club had been in existence during 
two school years. This is only a sample case of many which 
have proved that if children are allowed the freedom that 
developing individuality demands, their mothers must not 
feel to sure that their darlings are protected against knowl- 
edge of life, and perhaps of life in its most degraded aspects." 
(13, pp. 13-14). Love and hunger are often called the two 
master instincts of life. It has been said that two-thirds of 
the total psychic processes of adolescent youth are for years 
concerned with sex directly or indirectly. It would seem 
utterly absurd to think of the fact that instruction of sex, 
and particularly of its hygienic aspects in public schools has 
often been considered as indiscreet and indecent. 

It is a social need because of the prevalence of social 
diseases which must be eliminated. The organization of the 
national army has revealed the existence of venereal diseases 
among the civil population of the United States, both urban 
and rural, to a [degree which is mortifying td every thinking 
people. They have affected all classes of people, and it is 
appalling to see the social vice suddenly stand out in such 
a glaring light. The War and Navy Departments have under- 
taken measures to treat such diseases within the army and 
navy and to iprevent their spreading. To a certain extent 
their efforts have been successful. But [the fundamental cause 
of such social danger is ignorance. The most effective means 
of permanently reducing the spread of venereal diseases is 
education. Shall we let the children of adolescence be clearly 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 141 

informed of the importance of sex-hygiene, or let them take 
their chance in ignorance, the results of which may be dis- 
astrous to the individual welfare and dangerous to the public 
health? 

2. Hygiene of Eating. — Next to sex-hygiene, there is prob- 
ably no branch of human knowledge which has received less 
attention in public school instruction than that concerning 
the relation of food to growth and health. According to the 
psychology of appetite, we find that nutrition is the back- 
ground of everything. Our body may be conceived as a 
machine for the conservation, distribution and transmission 
of energy, and every single organ in the body is a digestive 
organ. Even thought is a digestive function. Man is what 
he eats (Mann ist was er isst), and what he does with it. But 
we must not forget that it is not so much what he eats as 
what he digests and how completely he digests it. Pleasure 
and pain or euphoria and dysphoria are very closely linked 
to the digestive process. This is the first step of philosophy 
where a sound pedagogy should begin. If we feel well we 
pass over the earlier stages of growth, which is better than 
education. The maximum of utilized food should be our goal. 
The stages of recapitulation are accelerated by proper feed- 
ing, lacunae avoided. So is arrest and still more, degenera- 
tion. Some psychologists have even speculated that good 
cooking would play the most important role in education, 
because it affects both physical and psychical processes of 
man. Whatever may be the truth of this speculation, no one 
can deny the fact that the hygiene of eating is the most im- 
portant factor in physical development and well-being. I 
believe now is the high time for the teachers of elementary 
physiology and hygiene to rejuvenate their traditional methods 
of instruction and teach something more worth while. Instead 
of burdening children's memory with the technical names of 
bones and muscles, they can teach the quantity and quality 
of food desirable, the relative values of food, and the general 
system of our digestive processes. Subjects of this kind are 
far more beneficial and comprehensible to children than the 
material which we commonly find in the elementary text- 
books of physiology. 

One of the chief objections in teaching food values to chil- 
dren is the hopeless incomprehensibility of the technical 
language used in the copious literature on the subject. The 
only way of measuring and determining the amount of food 
we need is by the caloric method. But the word " calory " 
is utterly unintelligible to children. Not only children, but 
also lay people, as a rule, have very little conception of what 



142 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

is meant by a calory. Not only lay people, but also many 
physicians have a very hazy idea of what is meant when they 
say that an individual should have 2,200 or 3,000 calories 
a day. We would commit a great pedagogical error, if we 
asked children to remember by heart that so many grams of a 
certain food are equal to so many calories, and so many grams 
of another kind of food have an equal amount of caloric 
value. Children of elementary schools can not visualize the 
amount of food measured in grams, nor can they translate 
the caloric value of food into terms intelligent to themselves. 
JBut what are we going to teach and how are we going to 
meet this difficulty? 

Dr. William Emerson of Boston has reduced the common 
unit of 100 calories (which was first introduced by Dr. Irving 
Fisher) into most familiar terms such as teaspoonfuls, cup- 
fuls, and so on, so that common people or even children can 
understand. For instance, two table-spoonfuls of lima beans 
equal 100 calories; one ripe banana equals 100 calories; one 
roll equals 100 calories; and so you can go through the whole 
list of common foods which are found on the ordinary family 
table. (See 69). Beautiful charts have been made on this 
basis. It has been said that by this method Dr. Emerson 
has been able to teach dietetics to delicate children of even 
seven or eight years of age with regard to the amount of 
calories they have taken a day and the amount they still 
need to make up their quota. It seems to me that a great 
advance has been made in dietary instruction by translating 
the number of calories into familiar measurements. It is 
both practical and useful for teachers of physiology and 
hygiene to make use of such material on the ground of 
bringing instruction close to the children's interests, if for 
no other reason. They can not expect to be excused or for- 
given for neglecting instruction of this kind. 

Furthermore, instruction on food values is of paramount 
importance for the protection of the children's health. Many 
children from wealthy homes are being overfed and still 
more children have a harmful habit of excessive indulgence 
in eating candy. In one school, which was investigated, it 
was found that the boys were each receiving about 5,500 
calories daily and in addition were getting about 500 more 
outside in the form of candy. There is no doubt that they 
were tremendously overfed. The evil result of over-feeding 
is just as bad as, if not worse than, that of under-feeding. 
We have been trying hard to have free school lunches for 
the destitute children. Have we done anything to enlighten 
the overfed children so that their vital organs may not be 
overburdened, by the unnecessary amount of food ? 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 143 

Besides the elements of personal health, a knowledge of 
public health should also be a part of the intellectual equip- 
ment of every child who leaves the public school. In modern 
society one can not be a good citizen unless he knows some- 
thing about the causes and conditions of certain common 
contagious and infectous diseases and the measures of pre- 
venting them. Would the public, which supports popular 
education, ask too much if it demanded that every graduate 
of an elementary school know something of all, if not all 
of any one, of such topics as the importance of clean milk, 
good water supply, sewage disposal, vaccination, pure food, 
the destroying of the house-rat, house-flies, mosquitoes, and 
other insects, the necessity of quarantine measures against 
the transmission of various diseases, and the knowledge of 
First Aid, etc. ? Here we have a list of subjects which might 
be infinitely extended. This is practical physiology, bacteri- 
ology, and hygiene, or whatever other name you may call it. 
This is supremely important for the safety of the individual 
and for the protection of the community. Can we consider 
the public schools as having performed their function, if they 
merely feed the child with a certain amount of book knowl- 
edge without teaching this highly practical and useful side 
of education? 

Again, a well organized system of physical training should 
be an indispensable part of a good school program. The 
medical examinations of the young men drafted for the 
national army have revealed the fact that many of them are 
unfit for the work of either a soldier or a sailor on account 
of their physical defects. Most of these physical defects are 
remediable either through early treatment or corrective exer- 
cises. When the accepted men were brought together in camps, 
many of them were stooping, crooked, stunted, slouching, and 
awkward in appearance. Usually weeks or months were 
devoted in the training camps to the setting-up exercises in 
order to produce in the new draftees an adequate muscular 
development and a desirable carriage. Does this fact give the 
school men some food for thought? Had the schools pro- 
vided a complete course of physical training for every child 
in the country, such a deplorable condition would not have 
happened. It seems to me that people who advocate military 
training as a part of general education for the youth should 
not fail to insist upon a suitable course of physical training 
to be provided by the public school, because it is the founda- 
tion of military training and the proper function of popular 
education. 

Further, proper physical training is one of the indispens- 
able conditions for mental development. Dr. Francis Warner 



144 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

in his book entitled " The Study of Children " has laid special 
stress upon the benefits to be derived from good physical 
training. Thus he says: (119). "Evidence is available 
from comparision of reports on children seen in schools, where 
good physical training was provided, in contrast with a large 
school, where no such training was given. In the school with- 
out physical training the proportion of both boys and girls 
with abnormal nerve signs was higher, and a larger propor- 
tion of the boys were reported by the teachers as dull pupils. 
This can not be attributed to the developmental cases or to 
low nutrition, as their proportion was lower than in the other 
schools; it must, I think, be ascribed to the absence of phys- 
ical training It may be inferred that physical 

training tends to improve the brain condition of children, 
preventing or removing disorderliness in motor and in mental 
action, and promotes healthy activity in both directions ; this 
applies not only to children perfectly well made in body, but 
also to those in some slight degree below normal." 

Dr. Warner's statement has been corroborated by many 
investigations since, so the necessity of a good course of phys- 
ical training for every child admits of no controversy. We 
must realize that most of the physical training given in the 
public school is not worthy of the name. We can not expect 
much from ten minutes exercises once or twice a day, given 
by untrained teachers and often under very unfavorable con- 
ditions. If we are going to have physical training at all,, it 
must be adequate and effective. From fifteen to twenty hours 
a week of physical training and organized play should not 
be considered as too much. (See chapter on military train- 
ing). If we can incorporate some of the most important 
features of Boy Scout into the system, so as to provide dis- 
cipline and opportunity for spontaneous activity at the same 
time, it will prove as an important part both of general edu- 
cation and of pre-military training. 

Intellectual Instruction and Training. Generally speak- 
ing, the subjects for intellectual instruction and training in 
the public school program may be grouped under three heads, 
namely, science, history, and literature. We may discuss them 
separately according to the order mentioned. 

Science. — As a rule, scientific instruction has been too much 
mechanicalized. We try to lay too much emphasis upon 
definitions, laws, rules, formulae, and mathematical propo- 
sitions of the most abstract nature, rather than to connect the 
facts of physical sciences with human experiences which are 
within the intellectual grasp of the pupil. Sciences are taught 
as mere " technical bodies of information and technical forms 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 145 

of physical manipulation." They are considered as subjects 
which deal exclusively with nature and have nothing to do 
with man. The philosophic dualism between man and nature 
has created an unbridgeable gulf between the studies of 
natural sciences and the studies of human interests and human 
activities. But, as I have pointed out in the last section, this 
separation is very unfortunate. Sciences are the means of 
promoting human happiness and well-being. The knowl- 
edge of sciences should be the chief agency to emancipate 
human intelligence and to broaden human sympathy. Science 
for science's sake may find its justification with the specialists, 
but it is an absurd notion for the beginner. So the conditions 
of reform in science teaching are two: First, it should be 
" humanized," and secondly, more practical sciences should, 
be introduced into the curriculum. 

The problem of humanizing science teaching is to " de- 
mathematicalize " it. For the average pupil in the public 
school, scientific symbols are far less important than the 
intimate relationship between scientific evolution and social 
progress. To make him memorize the symbolic expressions 
of science without understanding their meaning is to create 
in him intellectual indigestion. Take the study of physics 
and chemistry as a concrete illustration. Atoms, molecules, 
theories, and mathematical equations are all necessary parts 
of such sciences, but their meanings are incomprehensible 
to the mind of the immature youth, if they are detached from 
the objects of daily acquaintance. We must teach the child 
how scientific facts have been obtained and what methods 
have been used to reach the conclusions. We must make the 
child more alert, more open-minded, and better understand 
his environment through scientific instruction. We should 
not try to feed the child with an enormous amount of undi- 
gested and undigestible subject matter simply to cover so 
much ground within a certain time-limit. The history of such 
sciences should be taught, because it shows how the progress 
of human society from savagery to civilization has been de- 
pendent upon scientific inventions and discoveries. Railways, 
steamboats, areoplanes, are the familiar means of communi- 
cation of to-day, but they have not come into existence all 
of a sudden. They have reached their present stage of per- 
fection through countless failures and less sensational dis- 
coveries in the past. To teach the child how the knowledge 
of physics and chemistry has helped mankind to control nature 
will inevitably open his mind to the possibilities of human 
achievements in the future. If the freeing of the mind from 
its present confinement constitutes the most essential part 



146 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

of education, the proper method and humanistic content of 
scientific instruction are too important for us to ignore. 

With regard to the introduction of practical sciences into 
the curriculum, the writer has agriculture particularly in mind. 
Agriculture is allied with such subjects as botany, zoology, 
biology, bacteriology, horticulture, etc., and, indeed, they are 
its component parts. To teach agriculture in its practical way 
would mean to teach all these subjects in their most concrete 
form. Furthermore, agricultural education gives excellent 
training to the senses of sight, hearing, and touch, to the ability 
of using tools, and most important of all, gives a concrete 
demonstration of the dignity of labor. (See chapter on School 
Children and Food Production). Thus President Eliot says 
(37) : " The boy on a farm has admirable opportunities to 
train eye, ear, and hand, because he can always be looking 
at the sky, and the soils, the woods, the crops, and the forests, 
having familiar intercourse with many domestic animals, 
using various tools, listening to the innumerable sweet sounds 
which wind, water, birds and insects make on the country- 
side, and in his holidays hunting, fishing and roaming." So 
the organization of school children for gardening and farm 
work as necessitated by the war should forever be perpetu- 
ated as a part of general educaton in times of peace. 

Besides physical sciences, the so-called social sciences, such as 
economics, and sociology, should also have a place in the sec- 
ondary school curriculum. In a democratic society, the people 
are the captains of their own destiny. They have to decide 
many of the crucial questions which may affect the interests 
of the entire nation. The political problems, such as the 
tariff, the income tax, the inheritance tax, the government 
ownership of the railroads and telegraph wires, the control 
of corporations, the housing of the industrial workers, the 
conditions of employment, prohibition, woman suffrage, child 
labor laws, and many others, are alf to be decided directly 
or indirectly by the voice of the people. But they are 
problems which can not be decided off-hand without any 
knowledge of economics and sociology. The foundation of 
a democracy is its intelligent citizenship. Otherwise the people 
will be at the mercy of the political bosses. Shall the public 
school undertake the responsibility of training the child to 
exercise his rights and privileges as well as to discharge his 
duties when he reaches his manhood? 

History. — I have discussed the problem of history instruc- 
tion more or less in detail in a preceeding chapter entitled 
"The War and the Teaching of the School Subjects." Some 
of the suggestions made with special reference to the teaching 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 147 

of the war, such as the teaching of patriotism and of truth, 
the study of the history of other nations, and the use of the 
present events to illustrate those of the past, should also find 
their application in the time of peace, But there is one more 
important point I wish to mention, that is, the study of 
primitive man. History deals with the past and the past is 
the history of the present. We must have some knowledge of 
our primitive ancestors in order to fully appreciate our social 
civilization of to-day. We have a very rich social inherit- 
ance, but such social inheritance has been made possble only 
by the most severe struggles of the ages past. The doctrine 
of struggle for existence can never be more clearly illustrated 
than by the history of primitive life. It offers a direct avenue 
of approach to the realization of man's successes and failures 
in his struggle with nature. The basis of our existence is 
economical. So the history of the human race is the history 
of the struggle for food, clothes and shelter. President Hall 
thinks that the struggle for existence should be taken to mean 
" striving for existence," and that if we could concentrate 
all our efforts to the conquest of nature and to the turning 
of natural energies for the use of mankind, war between 
nations would be unnecessary. The German translation, 
" Der Kampf urns Dasein " has been more or less responsible 
for the German belief that the chief condition of existence 
is war, and thus it has made Germany a militaristic nation. 
If we can teach the young through the study of primitive 
history the fundamental truth that the history of human 
civilization is the history of man's progressive adaptation to 
his environment and of his successes in dominating over nature, 
we may open their minds to the unlimited possibilities of 
future scientific accomplishments, and direct the efforts of 
the best talents of future generations to the study of the 
sciences. In the course of time, we may hope that one of 
the great causes of war, the economical struggle, may thus 
be eliminated. 

Literature. — On this subject two points may be briefly dis- 
cussed. First literature should be studied more extensively 
than intensively, Emphasis should be placed upon the con- 
tent which literature expresses rather than upon philosophy. 
Modern literature should take precedence to that of ancient, 
so as to enable the individual to keep in touch with the spirit 
of his time. Modern languages, such as French and German, 
should also have a place, because they are the keys to the 
vast richness of culture and scientific truth. To drop Ger- 
man from the school curriculum is an indication of chauvin- 
ism rather than true patriotism. Secondly, ancient languages, 



148 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

such as Greek and Latin, have no place in our modern school. 
The writer reaches this conclusion with full recognition of 
the fact that we can never wish to dispense with classic studies 
on account of the tremendous influence of classical traditions 
in our modern culture. To study Greek and Latin to a point 
to be able to appreciate drama, philosophy, oratory, art, and 
institutional life of the Greeks and Romans constitutes a 
liberalizing study of first-grade importance. But such 
literary appreciation of the classics is unattainable in the public 
school. To claim that a secondary pupil can better under- 
stand the Greek and Roman civilizations by his acquaint- 
ance with the elements of their languages is preposterous. 
Nothing of that kind can be expected. To make the pupil 
in the public school spend his precious time in studying Greek 
and Latin for the sake of culture is an educational waste, 
because the time devoted to such languages may be best spent 
on some other subjects which have direct and practical value 
for the youth. In order to enable the pupil to understand 
the civilization of the ancient times, ancient history will be 
enough, not ancient languages. 

Religions Instruction and Training. In discussing this ques- 
tion the writer is fully aware of its immensity and complex- 
ity. Yet this is the very problem we can not ignore. Religious 
beliefs, sentiments and feelings are a part of the human psyche, 
no observer of human nature will undervalue their signific- 
ance. D. C. Brinton in his " Religions of Primitive Peoples " 
says : " The religiosity of man is a part of his psychological 
being. In the nature and laws of the human mind, in its 
intellect, sympathies, emotions, and passions, lie the well- 
springs of all religions, modern or ancient, Christian or 
heathen. To these we must refer, by these we must explain, 
whatever errors, falsehood, bigotry, or cruelty have stained 
man's creeds or cults ; to them we must credit whatever truth, 
beauty, piety, and love have glorified and hallowed his long 

search for the perfect and the eternal The fact 

is that there has not been a single tribe, no matter how rude, 
known in history or visited by travellers which has been shown 
to be destitute of religion under any form." Indeed, without 
religion our civilization would be unintelligible. I would not 
like to think what our civilization would be if our history, 
philosophy, literature and arts were stripped of all the religious 
elements. 

Again, genetic psychology has shown us that in the child's 
soul there are rudiments of all ancient religions, such as the 
worship of rocks and stones, trees, and animals, sun, moon, 
thunder, fire, water, and many other natural objects and 



PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 149 

natural phenomena. They exist in the faculties that the child 
inherits from his ancestors in the different stages of civili- 
zation. President Hall thinks that he or she who has never 
been a true child in religious matters will never become a full- 
grown man or woman, so "a complete religious education on 
the recapitulatory theory would be to give the child a touch 
of the best in every religion through which the race has passed 
from the lowest to the highest." (See 50, vol. 1). Nicholas 
Murray Butler thinks man's spiritual inheritance is fivefold, 
science, literature, art, institutional life, and religious beliefs, 
so the education of the child must include knowledge of each 
of the five elements named. The triangular symbol of the 
Young Men's Christian Association has expressed the pro- 
found truth that it takes three factors — body, mind, and spirit 
— to make a complete man. To omit any one of them in 
the education of the young would make its results hopelessly 
incomplete. 

Important as religious education is, yet we exclude com- 
pletely the religious elements from public education. On 
account of the separation of state and church, and of the 
long standing antagonism between different denominational 
theologies it has been considered impossible to allow in the 
free schools, which are supported by general taxation, any 
of the religious teachings or practices into which the denomi- 
national prejudices would inevitably enter. In some states, 
even Bible reading is prohibited in the public school, because 
the Bible itself has been considered as a sectarian book, so 
the teaching of it would mean a violation of the liberties 
and rights of the non-Christian portion of the community. 
This complete secularization of public education may be re- 
garded as a sort of compromise, or a kind of political expedi- 
ency in getting out of the difficulty. 

To my mind, this complete elimination of religious teach- 
ing from the public school represents a distinct educational 
loss rather than a gain. Nor is it advisable to advocate the 
reversal of the present educational policy in this matter. What 
we can do at present is not to introduce into the school the 
teachings of religious dogmas, creeds, observances, rituals 
and rites, for they are worse than nothing, but to find the 
psychological equivalents of religion and to inculcate in the 
youth those ideas and ideals which may be properly called 
religious, yet take on no religious form. President Hall says : 
(50, vol. 1, p. 144). " The most imperative voice in the world 
is the inner oracle of conscience. We approach the Divine 
by self-communion and intuition. There are no sacrifices 
save those of the baser elements of our own nature, and no 



150 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

objects of worship save the best that is in man. There is 
no litany or ritual save good thoughts, feelings, deeds, and 
good will. Thus, we reach the insight that the only true 
religious growth is inwardization." If we take this most 
advanced view of religion, it may not be very difficult to find 
the psychological equivalents of it. The war has taught us 
many lessons, and the most profitable one of all is that great 
reservoirs of psychic forces of millions of men, such as loyalty, 
fidelity, courage, and self-discipline, have been tapped and 
that men who were living for petty and selfish ends have 
come face to face with ultimate realities and found something 
good, beautiful, and true, for which to live, and labor and 
die. Thousands of young men in the army who had never 
been connected with any church before the war have developed 
in the presence of hardships, horrors and dangers of war moral 
qualities which are thoroughly religious. Take for instance, 
when a French peasant marched from the south to the north 
of France, and was so impressed by the beauty of the country, 
that he wrote to his mother that he would consider it as a 
great privilege if he were counted to die for such a glorious 
fatherland. Another peasant soldier vowed to keep himself 
pure in body and in soul in order to be worthy to make the 
supreme sacrifice for his country. Such a sense of patriotism 
is superb in its moral strength and is tinged with a deep 
religious conviction. Again, religious tolerance and sympathy 
among the fighting men is beautifully illusrated by an often 
repeated story of the three soldiers who laid down their lives 
for the great cause. The story runs as follows : Of " soldiers 
three " who went over the top, one, a Protestant, was fatally 
wounded at the barbed wire before the enemy's trench and 
called to one of his comrades, a young Catholic priest, to 
creep out if he could and administer the last sacrament before 
he died. The priest went over in response to the request 
and was shot just when he extended the crucifix over his 
friend. The third soldier, a Jewish Rabbi, seeing the situa- 
tion, crept to the dying man, seized the crucifix and gave 
the dying man absolution. When the ceremony was just about 
to end, this young Rabbi was also shot. Stories of this kind 
can be multiplied in great numbers, but it is enough here 
to show that the difference in creeds and faiths can furnish 
no barrier between the hearts of men when they face the 
ultimate realities of life. We have often been told that the 
soldiers in the fighting fronts were intensely loyal to their 
comrades, ever ready to share whatever they had with a chum, 
and extraordinarily generous and chivalrous if any one was 
in trouble. They believed whole-heartedly in unselfisness, 



SUMMARY 151 

generosity, charity and humility, although they might not have 
connected these moral qualities with the profession and prac- 
tice of Christian religion. What a splendid manual of religious 
education can be written, if the religious ideas of the soldier 
can be gathered and clearly stated without any mixture of 
church creeds or dogmas ! In this connection I may quote 
President Eliot's recent utterance on this matter. Thus he 
says : " Some line officer who has been intimate with his men 
when in hospital or in their resting places, or some chaplain 
who has shared with the privates their hardships and their 
dangers, and written letters home for them as they lay 
wounded or dying, ought to prepare a manual of the religion 
of the thinking soldier in this war for the freedom and secur- 
ity of mankind. It would contain no dogma, creed, or ritual, 
and no church history ; but it would set forth the fundamental 
religious ideas which ought to be conveyed in the schools 
to every American child and adolescent in the schools of 
the future. Such teaching would counteract materialism, pro- 
mote reverance for God and human nature, strengthen the 
foundations of a just and peace-loving democracy, and con- 
firm to Micah's definition of religion : ' What doth the Lord 
require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk 
humbly with thy God?'" (38). 

In conclusion, I may say that we are in the crucial period 
of civilization. No time should be lost in facing the problems 
of education. It is not enough to say that we are going to 
have a new world, but we must make a new world. Of all 
the means at our disposal, public education is the most effect- 
ive. Unless we can make boys and girls now in the school be- 
come better men and women in the future than those of the 
present, we can not hope that there is any kind of international 
organization which will guarantee peace on earth and good 
will toward all men. 

SUMMARY. 

In summary, the main points as presented in this thesis may 
be briefly stated as follows : 

1. It has been shown that war has afforded a very great 
opportunity for direct moral instruction and training. Teach- 
ers who have felt that verbal instruction in ethics tends to 
be uninteresting and inefficacious can now base their teachings 
upon the broad conception of patriotism and personal sacrifice 
which can be amply illustrated by the heroic deeds of the 
soldiers on the battle fronts. Never before have we seen so 
many evidences of love and sympathy, of devotion to duty and 
consecration for service. Never before have we heard so 



152 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR 

much of the deeds of heroism and self-denial, of bravery and 
discipline. Never before have we found so many examples 
of loyalty, co-operation, and the willingness of paying the 
last measure of devotion for a great cause. All these virtues 
developed in the war should be carefully and systematically 
taught to the members of the younger generation. So the task 
of the American school is not to arouse in children vague 
emotions of a patrotic flavor, but to give them a new view 
of social and civic responsibility. The extraordinary demands 
of war service may have in some slight degree disturbed the 
ordinary school program, but they have also given children 
an excellent training in public service and good citizenship. 
The educational benefit derived from the war activities may 
offset any real or fancied losses of school time. 

2. The war has taught us the value of gardening work by 
the school children. Under proper organization and direction, 
it helps to increase the agricultural output of the nation and 
serves to vitalize the school curriculum. What we have done 
under the necessity of war should be continued in time of 
peace. 

3. Farm work for boys of proper age is a real education 
in itself. It should be encouraged, organized, directed, and 
supervised by the school authorities, war or no war. 

4. It has been shown that the kind of military drill which 
we find in some school systems in this country has no place 
in the public school curriculum. It is a sheer waste of time, 
and has no value, either military or educational. Public 
schools as they now exist have not the time, means and pro- 
fessional ability to provide a genuine system of military in- 
struction for the immature youth. The author suggests that 
a broad program of physical education should be adopted 
by all the schools in the country and strongly urges that some 
of the chief features of the scouting program and method 
be incorporated into such a program. A well-balanced system 
of physical education under military discipline will furnish 
a splendid pre-military training. 

5. From all the evidences at hand we find that some re- 
sourceful teachers have modified their regular instruction 
on account of the war. On the whole this modification has 
been a change for the good. It has modernized and vitalized 
many traditional school subjects and made them more real 
to the interest of the child. The author urges that the old 
order of things should never be allowed to come back again. 

6. Based on the experiences of many school systems, the 
author suggests that the entire system of public education 



SUMMARY 153 

be reorganized. Some of the concrete suggestions made, such 
as the creation of a national department of education with 
the power of formulating the general educational policies 
and making the minimum requirements in public education 
for the entire nation, the reorganization of the state, county 
and city school administration, the increase of the period of 
compulsory attendance, the adoption of the " six-three-three 
plan," the ways of training and securing better teachers, the 
provision of vocational education, etc., should be immediately 
realized. 

7. With regard to the reorganization of public school pro- 
grams the author has shown that the antithesis between natural 
development and social efficiency, between cultural and scien- 
tific aims of education is more superficial than real, if we think 
of education as a provision of a wholesome environment for 
the unlimited, free, complete and harmonious development 
of all the powers within the individual through participation 
in those activities which have a direct bearing upon social 
progress. The author can not over-emphasize the importance 
of child study, because an ideal education must meet the needs 
of both the individual and the society. We must go back to 
first principles to find out what human nature is and then 
adjust our school program to meet its needs. Suggestions 
concerning the content of a good school program, such as the 
necessary provisions for physical, intellectual, and religious 
instruction and training may sound too idealistic, yet they 
are essential and practical. We must remember that the 
schools of to-day are largely responsible for the world of 
to-morrow. Unless we can make boys and girls now in the 
school become better men and women in the future than those 
of the present, we can not hope for a permanent international 
peace. 



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